Written By : John Hawkins

“A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.” — Michael Kinsley

In a rare moment of candor, Robert Gibbs popped off about all the new media libs out there who’ve been complaining that Barack Obama’s socialistic agenda hasn’t gone fast enough or far enough for their taste,

During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”

The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”

Of those who complain that Obama caved to centrists on issues such as healthcare reform, Gibbs said: “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.”

…“There’s 101 things we’ve done,” said Gibbs, who then mentioned both Iraq and healthcare.

Gibbs said the professional left is not representative of the progressives who organized, campaigned, raised money and ultimately voted for Obama.

Progressives, Gibbs said, are the liberals outside of Washington “in America,” and they are grateful for what Obama has accomplished in a shattered economy with uniform Republican opposition and a short amount of time.

This is one of those rare cases where I can’t disagree with anything that Gibbs had to say. Obama is a diehard socialist who has been willing to push an incredibly unpopular agenda at great cost to Democrats in Congress and his own approval rating. If you’re a left-winger, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Still, you wouldn’t know it from the responses to Gibbs on the Left,

Joe and I are upset with Obama, and we, for example, raised nearly $43,000 for the man, According to the White House, our money now doesn’t count. Great, would they like to give it back? I for one, would love the $1000 back that I personally donated to the Obama campaign. Joe gave even more. I suspect a lot of our readers wouldn’t mind their contributions back too, since apparently they’re not appreciated.

Then there’s all that work we did for the campaign, all the dirty work they asked us to do – and we did it, gladly, and quietly – none of that counted either, apparently. — John Aravosis, AmericaBlog

Robert Gibbs should resign immediately. He just spit on the face of those who helped Barack Obama get elected and routinely defend him day in and day out against vicious smears from the right. Where did he come up with the term professional left? I thought we were the Cheetos-eating basement dwellers?

…I think he should resign over his inartful words since it wasn’t an apology and I also think it’s time for President Obama and the White House to hold a meeting with the “Professional Left.” It’s time to clear the air. — John Amato, Crooks and Liars

In a piece that had a lot to piss me off, the suggestion that professional DC hack Robert Gibbs should lecture hippies about what people “in America” think of Obama’s economic policies was the worst.

Maybe that’s because I’m out here “in America” and I’m still seeing a shattered economy.

…No matter how many mean names Gibbs calls hippies, the real issue is that he, the voice of the Obama Administration, appears totally clueless about why America isn’t clapping louder about the Administration’s economic “successes.” — Empty Wheel

So White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, this diary is for you. How dare you suggest that my complaints about Obama have to do with drug addiction. To say this, to take a Republican right-wing meme and turn it on us, it’s sinister, and abusive. It’s a power and control move to say “If you are complaining, you should not be heard.” But here’s the deal. I want to be heard. I want you to understand why so many Americans are unhappy with President Obama. It’s not because we are on drugs and just distorting our reality.

…The economy is stalled precisely because of a lack of jobs, medical and health care costs, POOR medical care and medical errors, with absolutely no recourse for middle America when the corporate world makes a mistake. It seems to me that while your administration has put a bandaid on my gaping 10-inch surgical wound, you have done very little to treat the underlying problem that corporate America has too much control over our lives. We want to see you fight corporate America, not bloody the eyes of left-wing liberals and then kick us to the curb calling us drug addicts if we complain. — FireDogLake

Robert Gibbs — in one of the most petulant, self-pitying outbursts seen from a top political official in recent memory, half derived from a paranoid Richard Nixon rant and the other half from a Sean Hannity/Sarah Palin caricature of The Far Left — is here to tell you that the real reason you’re dissatisfied with the President is because you’re a fringe, ideological, Leftist extremist ingrate who needs drug counseling.

…So, to recap: (1) The Professional Left are totally irrelevant losers who speak for absolutely nobody, and certainly nobody in Real America who matters; but (2) they’re ruining everything for the White House!!! And: if you criticize the President, it’s only because you’re such a rabid extremist that you harbor a secret desire to eliminate the Pentagon — that’s how anti-American you are! You’re such a Far Left extremist that Dennis Kucinich isn’t far enough Left for you, you subversive, drug-using hippies! You’re so far to the Left that you want to turn the U.S. into Canada. As David Frum put it today: “More proof of my longtime thesis, Repub pols fear the GOP base; Dem pols hate the Dem base.” — Glenn Greenwald

But what’s dangerously myopic about going ballistic as Gibbs did in his statements is that just 10 years ago we had a little event in which only a tiny portion of the base went with a third party bid from the left — and the consequences were catastrophic. Democrats, of all people, should remember that every vote matters.

…And why shouldn’t activist liberals be as angst ridden as anyone else in the country anyway? I realize we aren’t considered Real Americans by the Villagers, but the truth is that our lives are just as f*cked up as the tea baggers’. The clap louder routine doesn’t work with 10% official unemployment, an escalation of an unwinnable war and a lot of talk about cutting the safety net to balance the books. We are not immune to the same stresses that affect everyone else in the country. Perhaps we are the canaries in the liberal coal mine and they should be a little bit more mindful. — Digby, Hullabaloo

You know what I don’t enjoy? Waking up and reading, before my coffee pot has finished producing my lifeblood, the press secretary for the White House engaging in a spate of hippie-punching so broad as to sweep up the folks on this blog. — Pandagon

No, F*ck You, Robert Gibbs: You gotta bet that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was so goddamned pleased with himself when, in an interview with The Hill, he got his nasty on about “the professional left.” See how brave he is? Attacking the people from whom the President is supposed to have spawned? Yeah, you know that Gibbs got a little boner when he spat, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.” “Oh,” he must have thought, “how Rahm will scratch me behind my ears and laugh as I lick my balls.” Such praise is rare these days. (Speaking as a relatively semi-pro leftist, Canadian health care? Sure. Eliminate the Pentagon? Not so much. Cut the Pentagon maybe to a square or a triangle? Sure.) — Rude Pundit

To be filed under Things That Will Not Compel Me to Vote for Obama in 2012: Calling me a drug-addled ingrate. Gibbs has completely gone off the rails.

…Look, I don’t expect ideological perfection, but I do expect some evidence that a Democratic president and I are on the same side, and I have seen precious little evidence that we are. — Shakesville

Talk about adopting Right Wing memes. So the President is going to be out there “politicking,” trying to energize the base, and his Press Secretary is going to be taking right. — TalkLeft

The Obama administration is sick of libruls such as Rachel Maddow who dare CRITICIZE them, the librul political party’s presidential administration, when they fail to do important librul things. “I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Robert Gibbs said. (But he is like George Bush, because he lives in the same house and has the same job and also calls himself “President.”) Why are the “professional left” not in lock-step with their dear leader? Isn’t there a chemical that makes you oppose gay marriage and support Guantanamo Bay that Robert Gibbs can inject people with when he’s checking them for teh drugz? — Wonkette

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