The frustrations and the fears that progressives feel about President Obama were on full display Thursday as thousands of them flocked to Minneapolis for the sixth annual Netroots Nation conference…
Former DNC chairman Howard Dean addressed the opening day of the conference, noting that “grousing about the president is a stage we have to go through…”
One breakout session this afternoon was titled, “What to do when the president is just not that into you?” The session featured Lt. Dan Choi, no stranger to directing ire at the White House for not taking a stronger stance on gay rights. At one point Choi ripped up a flyer from Organizing for America.
So good. More libhurt. I want more libhurt! Gimme that stuff, The Hill:
President Obama’s communications czar sought to soothe frustrated liberals Friday, telling them Obama needs their support to win reelection.
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer faced a grilling during an appearance at the Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of liberal bloggers and activists meeting this year in Minneapolis.
Pfeiffer faced tough questions from Kaili Joy Gray, an associate editor for the liberal blog Daily Kos, who often reacted to the communications director’s answers to questions with an audible sigh or a skeptical, elongated “OK.”
What-EV-errrrrr!!
Hecklers sometimes interjected during the Q-and-A, voicing their skepticism toward Pfeiffer and accusing him of being evasive in his answers.
Pfeiffer admitted that the administration has been “frustrated” with its critics on the left, but pleaded for their support heading into 2012.
“We can either work together and finish that work that we started in 2008 or we can be relegated back to the sidelines and see what a Republican president … does to this country,” he said at the event, which was streamed online.
Obama 2012: Please Don’t Make Us Get Real Jobs
And now, my second-favorite Weiner of the week, Rachel Weiner at WaPo:
To heckling and some loud boos, Pfeiffer drove home two themes to activists attending the Netroots Nation conference: change is hard and installing a Republican in the White House would be much worse than reelecting President Obama…
Pfeiffer contended that the administration had gotten an “historic amount of things done in the first two years” despite the “challenges” posed by a Congress that didn’t always cooperate. He pointed to the Lily Ledbetter Act, which extended the amount of time people could sue for alleged wage discrimination.
“Frankly we’re a little sick of hearing about that one,”replied moderator Kaili Joy Gray…
Pfeiffer started his Friday speech by saying, “Without the people in this room today, Obama would not be president of the United States” — a line that drew mild applause from the crowd.
But the applause got much louder when moderator Gray pressed Pfeiffer on gay marriage, ending tax cuts for the wealthy, the war in Afghanistan and other issues where liberals feel Obama has strayed.
That’s right, folks: Lefties can be racists too!
It was a crappy week to be a liberal. Good times.