Giving Thanks (and Non-Thanks).

Obviously, it's Thanksgiving today -- and I'm by no means above doing a (political) "thanks" and "no thanks" of 2009 list.

I think that, when some things -- like health care -- aren't going as well as you'd hoped, it's important to remember what has gone well so far in this administration, so that you do not become so bogged down in your own cynicism of a progressive government that you give up on the power of grassroots organizing and, more specifically, one individual's ability to change the trajectory of this country for the better.

I am thankful for Obama doing the following things:

• Signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.
• Signing the Reauthorization of SCHIP Act into law.
  
• Signing the Ted Kennedy Serve America Act into law.
• Signing the Ryan White HIV/Aids Treatment Extension Act into law.
• Establishing a credit card "bill of rights."
• Directing military leaders to end the Iraq war (on his first day in office).
• Signing the Matthew Shepard Act into law.
• Banning lobbyist gifts to executive employees.
• Reversing restrictions on stem cell research.
• Pledging to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT).
• And deciding to go to Copenhagen to push serious climate change reform.
  

Some more general things I am thankful for:

• Sarah Palin no longer being in public office.
• The NewLeft Media guy for doing all of those amazing, crazy, tea-bagger interviews.
• The Rachel Maddow Show.
• Tea-Baggers for their name and overall hilarity.
• Reconciliation (I'm thankful it exists -- but am still very weary of it).
  
• New favorite House member: Anthony Weiner (D-NY).
• (I still love you, Kucinich [D-OH]!)
• Favorite Senator: Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
• (Sherrod Brown [D-OH] in a close second.)
  
• The "No on 1" campaign in Maine.
• The Daily Show.
  
• Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for being a super strong Speaker of the House.
• Howard Dean for his consistent advice on real health insurance reform.
• Joe Sestak (D-PA) pulling Arlen Specter (D-PA) far to the left.
• Daylin Leach (D-PA) for introducing marriage equality legislation in the Pennsylvania State Senate.
• Ron Wyden (D-OR) for pushing his Free Choice Act to become part of the health care reform bill.
• And the 54 or 55 senators and the approximately 222 house members that support a public option.

With all that being said, we didn't have that bad of a 10 months, but it's also obviously just as important to remember the things that you're not thankful for in office -- as to not become a yes-man, head-nodding, blindly-follow-along politico.

I am not thankful for Obama doing the following things:

• Appointing Tim Geithner and Larry Summers to head his economic team.
• Not being as tough on lobbyists and special interest groups as he was during the campaign.
• UPDATE (11/27/09): Spoke a little too soon.
  
• Not televising all health care reform negotiations in public sessions on C-SPAN.
• Being more focused on bipartisanship than better quality legislation.
• Not being more vocal in his push for a public option.
• Not signing an executive order to suspend all DADT trials until formal legislation is passed in congress.
• And leaving programs like FISA fully-intact (although he never claimed to repeal this during his campaign).

Some more general things I am not thankful for: 

• Tea-Baggers for producing more-and-more hate and divisiveness in the country.
• Glenn Beck for producing more-and-more hate in the Tea-Baggers.
• Fox News for providing an outlet for the ever-growing hatred inside of people like Glenn Beck.
  
• Dick Cheney for being a total dick.
• The people who voted down marriage equality in Maine.
  
• The Republican Party for being nothing but obstructionists.
• OFA for asking activists from Maine to travel to New Jersey to work on the gubernatorial election and completely ignoring the "No on 1" campaign.
  
• The Blue Dogs in the House for weakening the public option.
• Joe Lieberman for threatening to kill health care reform.
• Blanche Lincoln for threatening to kill health care reform.
• Ben Nelson for threatening to kill health care reform.
• Mary Landrieu for threatening to kill health care reform.
• The filibuster.
• The Stupak Amendment.
  
• Harry Reid saying that he will not use reconciliation and not threatening to strip Joe Lieberman or Blanche Lincoln of their respective chairmanships for not voting for cloture on health care reform. 
  
• And the Democratic Party for never being able to disprove that they're a weak caucus.

I'm sure there's plenty more to be thankful or non-thankful for, but that's what I could come up with off the top of my head in this very quick amount of time. Anything I'm missing?

Enjoy your day of gluttony!