This is a rant about the rants.

Today, Frank Rich lets loose another tirade against President Obama. Among the commentariat of the Left, penning an anti-Obama tirade is all the rage — Paul Krugman, Arianna Huffington, and others have all become expert practitioners at this craft.

I don’t get it. Even if you assume their attacks have merit (and I don’t think that they have any) I don’t see what good they do. It’s bogus, and stupid.

Given everything Obama has had to face — foremost among the many pressing crises, a devastating economic collapse — he’s done a damned good job. He got Congress to pass the biggest fiscal stimulus since the 1930s. His Treasury Department undertook sensible, prudent efforts to manage the banking meltdown (and showed guts not to listen to the hand-wringers calling for nationalization like Paul Krugman). History will show both of those moves plus action by the Fed probably staved off a Great Depression II.

He’s unleashed a slate of smaller bore efforts — projects on green technology in the Energy Department, and the “Race to the Top” initiative from the Education Department — that are both real, substantive, truly progressive and full of positive longer-term impact.

Through persistence and patience, he got the Senate and the House to pass — for the first time, ever, in our country’s history — comprehensive health care reform legislation. That obviously isn’t done yet, new hurdles have been put in the way — but really, what President has done more to get this passed since FDR?

And, not all all unimportantly, he’s completely changed our military and foreign policy. His decision on Afghanistan may obscure this for some, but the place and role of America in the world is completely different than it was 13 months ago.

The most common complaint I hear about Obama from friends (who support him) is “He hasn’t done enough.” Or  “He can’t get stuff done.” Despite the list above, which is hardly comprehensive. I think what’s happening in part is that everyone assumed the election would be the hard part, that the rest would be a cakewalk. That with 59 or 60 Senators and a strong majority in the House that Obama could just proclaim change and that it would happen. And that the country would feel blessed.

People who are adults, with any sense of history or perspective, know this just isn’t the way the world or our country works. The fight continues, always. You pick a team, stay loyal to it, and work through your personal disappointments if you want to try to accomplish something.

Republicans are real good at this. Sadly, too many Democrats and their supporters like Frank Rich suck at it. And that’s what will bring down President Obama — not some conspiracy from the Right. Too bad, you have only yourselves to blame.

UPDATE: Two things I should have added to the list — the auto company bailout last year (an incredible success given the daunting challenges) and the new bank regulations proposed by Obama this past week. Good coverage on the latter here from Daniel Gross on Slate.

Another one for the ages.

Henry Blodget posts this morning about Google & China, and claims they’re getting out because of China’s “censorhip.”

Let’s review the facts again, as Google alleges them to be:

• Google discovered attacks on it’s servers originating from Taiwan, and traced those back to mainland China
• They apparently had good reason to believe the attacks were driven by the government
• The attacks were designed to steal information from personal accounts of Chinese human rights activitists that were stored on Google’s servers (and those of other companies)

Sorry, that’s something more than censorship. And if you don’t draw a line against this kind of behavior, it’s wrong and weak and immoral.

News today that Rob Glaser is stepping down as CEO of RealNetworks after sixteen years at the helm.

I think it’s probably fair — and maybe even an understatement — to say that within the technology industry, Rob has not always been beloved. I’m sure plenty of people will offer their opinions about what he did right, wrong, and could have done better at Real.

I worked with Rob at Real from 1997 to 2004. I haven’t kept up with Real these past five years, and haven’t kept in touch with Rob the last couple of years. But I also think — no, know — that Rob has not always been as well-understood or appreciated as he should be, and wanted to set down my perspective for what it’s worth.

First of all — what a fighter and survivor. It’s hard enough to be an entrepreneur, to pioneer not only a new technology but a business, and to build a company out of that and to take it public. Harder still to do that for a decade, let alone sixteen years.

But imagine the difficulty when the richest company in the world, a ruthless and entrenched monopoly, decides to crush your business. For this is what Real faced starting in 1998, when Microsoft began a systematic attack against Real’s core business — audio and video streaming. Rob not only hung tough, but pushed the company to pivot, and through sheer will forced it to reinvent itself and to stay afloat despite the attacks from the Borg.

Among technology leaders the past decade, only Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen really have any clue what it was like to face Microsoft head-on, at it’s most ruthless and at the height of its powers (we forget what they were like in our Age of Google, they seem so defanged). And let history note that they threw in the towel (selling Netscape to AOL).

Second, Rob is one of those rare CEOs and entrepreneurs who really is interesting and interested; a polymath who is curious (and often well-informed) about music, politics, economics, science. It was always a treat to talk with him, and the talk was often about things other than work. My partner Janet made an interesting point about Rob to me years ago — that he almost never talked about himself, but instead wanted to talk with you and about you. Truly a rarity when compared to the ego-centric and ego-filled technology world.

Third, in my time at Real, and in particular in my first few years there, he assembled an awfully interesting and talented group of folks.  Folks like Maria Cantwell (now a US Senator), Philip Rosedale (founder of SecondLife), Ian Freed (who now runs the Kindle effort), and literally dozens of others who have gone on to interesting entrepreneurial adventures of their own, or who serve in very senior roles at renowned media and technology companies. This wasn’t an accident, and it was Rob who drew so many interesting, talented folks to Real over the years.

*****

An emblematic sicknesses of our culture these past 10-15 years — and one that has particularly afflicted those of us who are entrepreneurs, technology writers, and investors — has been our unhealthy celebration of P. T. Barnum’s who have done not much more than flip bad assets to unwitting buyers. Someone who sells their company for a couple hundred million, or a few billion, and pockets most of it becomes a hero in our world. Even if their company is dismantled within months or proved worthless. Even if their employees subsequently lose their jobs. Even if the stockholders in the acquiring company lose their shirts.

Whereas someone who sticks at a job for sixteen years, keeps his troops employed, keeps his company alive — well, we don’t show much admiration then.

I’m sure Rob Glaser made his share of mistakes. Don’t we all? But he helped to birth a foundation technology for the internet; he built a company, took it public and came to work every day for sixteen years through thick and thin. That’s damned honorable in my book.