These days at THE HUFFINGTON POST

My interest in THE HUFFINGTON POST blows hot and cold.  I read it every day, but there isn't always much for me to write posts about. (It doesn't help that the posts don't always get through the moderation stage.  I have a feeling that their software has bugs that cause some posts to be scrubbed automatically without being considered.)

Lately I've been more active.  The other day they carried a MOTHER JONES article by David Corn insisting that when Obama let the Bush tax cuts continue three years ago he wasn't really "caving" to the Republicans; because he got them to agree to a second mini-stimulus, that made it "jiu jitsu" in which he brilliantly forced a concession from them.

I have little patience with people saying stuff like "Obama is playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers." This happened even when he made the impressively inept decision to choose homophobic fundamentalist Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his first inauguration.  He offended not just the GLBT community but everyone concerned about the power of American fundamentalists.  And fundamentalists can't be appeased:  give them what they want and they'll just take it as confirmation that they're in the right.  Yet there were Obama-worshippers on THE HUFFINGTON POST who insisted it was actually a brilliant move.

And so I wrote several posts on this subject.  One said: "Time once again for progressives to present a defeat as a victory." Another one was in response to someone who blamed the Democratic defeat in the midterm House of Representatives elections on the left not voting because they felt Obama had caved: "Could it be that the Republican victory of 2010 was due not to the perception of Obama caving, but to the ACTUALITY of Obama caving? (Perish the thought!)"

And today there was a report about Bradley Manning's upcoming trial.  That subject always brings out haters saying things like "He's guilty of treason and should be shot!" Since they keep repeating their opinions, I keep repeating mine:  Manning's real crime was exposing to the American people evidence of war crimes that the Pentagon keeps trying to cover up, and causing the US government embarrassment.  It was totally predictable that the Pentagon would throw the book at him (and NOT at the war criminals he exposed), but that doesn't mean people should just accept it.  If Obama doesn't pardon Manning, that'll be one of his more disgraceful betrayals of the American people.