Editorial: Why I Love Obama – Principals of No-Limit Poker
Now that Sherwood Ross got EVERYONE’s attention… my reply. President Obama plays poker. When I contributed the Poker and Politics column ’07-‘09 for WPT (World Poker Tour) Magazine before they were sold, I talked about how poker and politics are so similar. In poker you play the man (woman) and each hand vs the cards and winning combinations. It is how a 7-2 offsuit can win a hand through skill, bluff, guile and… allowing your opponent to beat him/herself.
I’m also an unabashed progressive and President Obama fan. My body of work speaks solidly to that point of view.
Poker requires immense patience to feel the other side out. All politics lately seems to require is an open microphone and a Twitter account.
Or does it?
I was called lots of names for letting Sherwood’s piece run. I have 19 contributors whom I respect and personally love. I also resisted the urge to place a disclaimer. Sherwood is a veteran correspondent and mostly I agree with him. Today I do not. And I was not surprised by the passion of progressive outrage and lost several followers. Those who want to listen will. Those who need to… that is why we are in the fix we are in politically.
To win in 2012 progressives need passion and poker skills. I’ve been following a number of discussion boards from the ‘dreamy idealists’ to the ‘anarchists.’ Neither side will win this coming fight. We need smart tolerance and to bring a Crocodile Dundee-sized knife to this coming corporate funded knife fight.
Even when you talk to many progressives (and I do), they present all the reasons why they love Obama, then say “but I’m not sure I will vote in 2012.” Excuse me, but WTF?
You sat on your hands in 2010 and now we have likes of Walker and Scott out there. We lost state house and Congress because we forgot the main rule of poker – stay in the game!
Have you watched the masterful way this President has tied the GOP in knots by NOT falling to their level of bellicose talking points? A poker player has to go ‘all in’ and believe his skill and hand will win and then… convince everyone else around the table that he is not bluffing. The other players, if trying to figure him out from the back foot are ALWAYS positioned to lose badly. A poker player has to live to play another hand. He weighs the options and trade one against the other. You lose a few small hands to win the big ones.
That is what progressives need to learn. Instead of the outrage machine always set to 10, dial it back and watch and listen. Everybody wants to shake his hand? I want to play a few hands with him in a cigar smoke filled room because going all the way back to the Illinois Senate weekly games in the basement, Barry O is a player.
Progressives need to shut off the outrage machine, stop bemoaning or trying to be the alternative to FOX and learn how they play the game. We’ve got to stop crying about their success at smearing and learn how to play the game better than they do so they smear themselves!
Above all? We’ve got to stop taking our ball and go home if we disagree or living in the hug-hug comfort of our pals. You may feel good but the outcome is still the same! You need to get in and stay in the game. That means more than blogging, Tweeting and attacking another progressive when they point out although we may be right WE’RE LOSING because we take a high road that does not exist.
Rove, Breitbart, Luntz… they all laugh at us because we are disorganised and cannot control our various factions and interests. They love it when we snipe at each other, it makes their job interesting.
We’re 15½ months away from a cash onslaught of Biblical proportions. Anyone still planning to 3rd party the president or stay home? Get used to the idea that President Obama will invoke the 14th to stop default and the GOP will try to impeach him over it. Let them try and the poker players in the room know it is bluff-filled, blustering hand that will lose.
Sherwood, I respect your right to say what you will in your columns. I unreservedly disagree with your assessment. I will fight to the death though for your right to say it. And will never offer anything uncharitable in terms of a reply because after 30 years in the business I respect you for saying it.
Now as for the rest of the progressives pitching fits, this is an Obama ‘teachable moment.’ Look around the table. Know who your allies are and with whom you will go into battle. Get serious about 2012, Stop romanticising and prepare.
President Obama is.
If you’re truly on his team? Get in the game and ride out the bad hands.
Denis G Campbell is author of the book Egypt Unsh@ckled: Using social media to @#:) the System. He is also editor-in-chief of UK Progressive Magazine and contributes politics and business articles for several global newspapers and magazines. He also provides regular commentary for BBC, China Radio International and others.
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This is the most disingenuous tripe I have ever read. Your main concern is appeasing the twitter followers and friends who have criticized you for posting Sherwood’s ridiculous, POS column that was so poorly written and so full of errors. How else can you possibly explain the fact that you whipped up this response in an hour. You put zero thought into this response. And it certainly reads that way. Just because Sherwood has something to say doesn’t mean you have to publish it. He happens to be wrong on so many facts, primarily constotutional issues dealing with impeachment. What Sherwood needed was a good editor. When you publish an editorial (with the headline editorial) saying “impeach” you own it. What you did was give this guuy a platform where he could spew his dumb thesis and then you say “hey look we’re not fox news.” Poor rationale. And your defense mechanism by throwing up this response is even worse. No journalist should proclaim his loyalty for any elected official. You seem to have a difficult time deciding whether you want to be part of the cluub on twitter or a journalist. Choose one. And by the way, by Sherwood’s idiotic reasoning every president should have been impeached.
All opinions are welcome here. Nice thing about the Internet is one can anonymously flame and run.
If you took the time to examine the record here and on Twitter, we fight fiercely for progressive values and always use common sense.
Sherwood Ross has written 35 articles for us. His body of work has been prolific and he spent 35 years (updated) as a frontline journalist.
I muzzle no one as editor and try to avoid gossip or anything likely to get us sued. When I exercise editorial control (which is rare because our 19 contributors are top notch professionals), I always ask if there is another way to bring a point across. In four years I have killed three articles out of 2,500.
I have admitted an error in fact or judgement about two dozen times. If given the chance to run Sherwood’s article again, while I disagree with his premise and argument, I defend his right to make it and would run it again.
Twitter is indeed an extension of this publication. I value the nearly 6,500 followers. To suggest I change my mind because of them is ludicrous. I had this article scheduled for 16:45 GMT. I did bring it forward in response.