Comparison: the Democrats are like Philadelphia sports fans.

I’ll let that sink in.

Taste it. Rub a little on your gums. Circular motions. That’s it.

Philadelphia sports fans are known to be zealous, yes. They shot paintballs at Neil Armstrong. They hurled ninja throwing stars at Jesus. Or something.

That’s not the aspect I’m holding up for comparison. Rather, the aspect I find interesting is the one where Philadelphia sports fans run very hot or very cold depending on the success of their teams at any given inning or quarter. Someone gets a home run, it’s all, we’re going to the World Series! Someone makes an error in the outfield, it’s all, this team sucks, fuck your mothers, fuck your fathers, fuck yourself in the ear with the Phillie Phanatic’s otherworldly proboscis! (Seriously, what is that thing? I think he’s the scout of an ultraterrestrial invasion force. Frankly, I welcome our new Phanatic Emperors, fresh from the Hollow Earth dimension.)

Consider, now, when Paul Krugman went on Bill Maher’s show.

Paul Krugman, NYT columnist, says on that show:

“The American dream is not totally dead, but it’s dying pretty fast. We’re not in good shape. On bad mornings I wake up and think that we’re turning into a Latin American country. But on good mornings I think, well, this is America. We’ve always in the past managed to turn ourselves around, and there is an FDR just around the corner if we could only find him. I was kind of hoping Obama might be FDR, but maybe not.”

Bill Maher, from an funny but too-sharp Huff-Po piece, says:

“I don’t care about the president’s birth certificate, I do want to know what happened to ‘Yes we can.’ Can we get out of Iraq? No. Afghanistan? No. Fix health care? No. Close Gitmo? No. Cap-and-trade carbon emissions? No. The Obamas have been in Washington for ten months and it seems like the only thing they’ve gotten is a dog.”

It took Republicans — hell, Americans in general — eight years to start getting frowny at Dubya.

But it’s taking Americans, and Democrats in particular, only eight months to start dissing Obama.

And yet, in eight months, President Obama’s accomplishments haven’t been small or few. Economic stimulus bill? Stem-cell research? A draw-down of the Iraqi occupation? A commitment to close down Gitmo? Greater transparency from the White House? A nigh-constant effort to get some kind of health care reform passed? A restoration of scientific and educational ideals? A restoration of our reputation in the world?

Okay, I get it. Gitmo isn’t closed yet. The Iraq War isn’t over. The public option exists in a hazy veil of uncertainty. But, as much as we’d love things to get done overnight, it rarely works that way. The point is, we’re moving in a better direction. Forward by inches, not backward by miles.

And yet, if you listen to the loudest Democratic voices, they’re just as happy to wade into the mud pit with the loudest GOP voices to start biting and tearing at the flesh of our current leadership.

The Democrats have the shittiest cheerleaders. They’re drunk. Their pom-poms are gummed up with last night’s vomit. They spit and hurl shoes. It isn’t pretty.”Rah-rah-rah, boom goes the dynamite, does anybody have meth, this team sucks,” *vomits*.

For example: when did we start getting pissed off about still fighting in Afghanistan? Maybe I was confused during the elections, or maybe I was in some sinister alternate dimension (my dogs did have unexpected goatees…), but last I checked, part of Obama’s platform was, “We’re taking this war to where it started — not Iraq, but Afghanistan!” And everybody cheered! Yes! That’s where we need to be! Afghanistan! But somehow, tides have turned, and memories are short, and now people are… upset we’re still there? Buh? But wasn’t that part of the point?

I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t be critical. But I am suggesting that you go back and read my earlier thoughts about how to be critical. Don’t just pan for lead. Don’t just get your hate on. Don’t be a drama queen. You’ve gotta say, “Hey, look at these good things. Great, well-done, high-fives and clinked glasses all around. Now, let’s get public support and pressure up on these not-so-good things.” Obama’s one dude. A way exists that we can exert public pressure in a positive way. It doesn’t help to declare that boo-hoo, you’re so disappointed (or worse, that he lost your vote as if you’d rather vote for Sarah Palin next time around). He isn’t a dictator. He can’t magically make everything happen with an inky swipe of his Unicorn Pen. He can’t just start kicking Congress in the face, and lock them in a closed session and set fire to the place.

Yes, I think we can do better. But I also recognize that the last eight months have been better. Momentum exists, so why not help to carry it? Why stand in its way? Being loud and dismissive and over-critical of the President just puts one in the same camp as the angry voices on the other side of the political divide. You want to help them? You want to get another Bush in the White House? At what point do we realize we’ve become a nation of critics and naysayers (or rather, “nattering nabobs of negativity“)?

At what point do we realize that things don’t have to be perfect to be good? That we can’t do better by always seeing the worst?