I have the right to remain silent, but not the ability

This kind of statement seems to be common in the Kool-aid Kingdom:

Just please shut the fuck up until he actually does something you disagree with, you WATB. Hillary Clinton wouldn’t have been any better. We are at the end of an eight year nightmare and you loudmouth morons are cutting off Obama at the knees before he even sets foot in the damned White House as President. Wankers.

Here’s a different perspective from Bernard Weiner of the Crisis Papers at After Downing Street:

Already, Obama’s initial appointments and economic advisors and most of those talked about as possible Cabinet officers seem to be within the frame of “middle” or even “middle-right” Establishment mode. (Some of the economists meeting with Obama are even partially responsible for the deregulationist attitude that led to our current recession.)

[…]

This doesn’t mean we on the left should be unmindful of the political difficulties facing the new president. He may have to compromise, tack right, on occasion, and we understand that. But we need to exert a strong, forceful, constant pressure that keeps him mindful of the correctness of many progressive and liberal policies. In other words, we must create an antidote for rightwards drift.

Among the STFU contingent there are two modes of thought.  The first is that those of us who opposed Obama “lost” and therefore have no right to say anything about how he governs.  This is the “elections have consequences” argument.  It is complete and utter bullshit.

I think Obama will be a bad President.  Unfortunately, for at least four years Obama will be the only President we have.  He will not be President of Obamanation, or just the states that he won.  He will be President of all 57 states.  If he fails, we all suffer, so I want him to make good decisions and appoint competent, experienced people to run our government.  God forbid he appoints guys like Markos Moulitsas or gives them any responsibility or authority.  So I have every right to express my opinion.

The second STFU mode of thought is the one expressed by John Cole.  It is also complete and utter bullshit.  If we wait until Obama does something we disagree with it may be too late.  Chris Matthews has already stated that he feels it is his job to help Obama succeed, and you can bet that cheerleader sentiment will be shared by most of the so-called journalists in the media.  That was exactly what they did at the beginning of George W. Bush’s administration too.  How did that work out?

As for the current buzz about the possibility of Hillary Clinton being nominated to be Secretary of State, I will believe it when it is officially announced.  Obama seems stuck in the campaign mode of trying to dominate news cycles and he loves playing mind games with things like this.  F*ck him, I ain’t playing. 

However, if Hillary is offered the job I trust her judgment as to whether or not she should accept it and I believe she would do a great job.  She would be serving our country if she accepted the job, not serving Obama.  Not only that, but it would be fun to watch the HillaryHaters’ heads explode.

Josh Marshall reacts to Hillary's nomination as Secretary of State