The verdict on President Obama is already in and it's not a pretty one: he's bungled health care. The economy is going nowhere. The Republicans are making a comeback. And it's all Obama's fault. If he had only made the case for fundamental change, as Paul Krugman argues in today's New York Times, the American people wouldn't be suspicious of big government. Obama is too passive, too read to compromise, naive, getting rolled by the right. In short, he's squandering the promise of his presidency.
Baloney. The idea seems to be that Obama can wave a magic wand and get Congress to cooperate and, in a flash, efface decades of anti-government rhetoric. He can't. What he can do is hew to a middle course, persuade the Democrats against their instincts for self-immolation that a compromise bill would be best, and watch as the radical right pushes the GOP even further into the breakdown lane.
By the end of this year, Obama will be in a very strong position. Congress will pass a health care bill -- not a perfect one, to put it mildly, but it will be the first step toward creating comprehensive coverage. Obama will be able to claim it as a big win, as will congressional Democrats.
Then there's the economy. Unemployment will remain high, but Obama will be able to point to a revival, not just in the stock market, but also in jobs creation. With a reviving economy, the Democrats will be in an impregnable position by the 2010 midterm elections. The Republicans who are counting on an off-year for the Democrats should think again.
What about foreign policy? Obama will have greatly curtailed the American presence in Iraq. Within a year, it will also become clear whether his approach to Afghanistan -- upping the number of troops -- is working. In addition, Pakistan seems to be stabilizing. Both would count as big wins for Obama.
Despite all the caterwauling about Obama, then, he remains firmly on course to become one of the most important Democratic presidents in history. It's always tempting to demand more, to see betrayal of the cause. It's what conservatives have been doing for decades, as they declared that even George W. Bush wasn't conservative enough.
There is no reason to panic about Obama. His sobriety and sound judgment are his greatest assets. So far, the most significant thing about Obama isn't that he hasn't accomplished more, but how successful his presidency has already been.
Well, if progressives decide to call Obama's bluff and vote against any reform bill that does not incldude either a "public option" or the Kucinich amendment that mandates ERISA waivers for any state wishing to institute a single-payer plan, what then? Compared to what is essentially a Massachusetts-like giveaway to the insurance industry, no reform could end up being the compromise we're left with.
So here's an alternate reality: No health care reform, the economy embarking upon a Japanese-like "lost decade" due to bailouts and the top and no relief at all for the working class, no peace in the Middle East due to Obama's caving on the settlements issue and a continuing quagmire in Afghanistan.
We've had it for almost 30 years.
I've expounded on this in many of Huffo's threads but let me simply say... America you deserve better, do not believe the Conservative lies.
NB: It took two goes in my country to get universal Medicare established. The Conservatives got rid of it when they got voted back in. The Labor Party re-established it at the next election after that. And although they have undermined it every time they got back into power the Conservatives don't dare try to get rid of it again. What I am getting at here is you have to push HARD for it- it's NOT going to happen through bi-partisanship.
PS: And get stuck into Wallstreet too, at least our government has stripped the ASX of its self-regulation recently... much to the shareholders' delight, believe it or not.
http://stephencrose.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/5612/
http://ow.ly/llCU
We cannot let the scare tactics dissuade us from reaching our goal!
While many of us are struggling to afford medical insurance/medical bills.
While Congress people try to stop healthcare reform.
While Congress people accept large contributions from lobbyists to prevent health care reform.
Our elected officials in Congress receive health care mostly paid for by us tax payers, yet many are trying to make it impossible for us to purchase an affordable plan of our own.
http://www.petitiononline.com/PubOp676/petition.html
"So far, the most significant thing about Obama isn't that he hasn't accomplished more, but how successful his presidency has already been."
However, if anyone bothers to look at the article for a shred of actual evidence to back up this wild assertion of ongoing success, they will find....nothing. The author basis his "no worries" conclusion on presumed outcomes (e.g. a health care bill that Americans will cheer about). This is absurd. To demonstrate this I offer the following: Not only will Obama have a health care bill at the end of the year, he will also end the war in Afghanistan, invent a cure for cancer, and solve the deficit problem. See? No worries at all!!! How great.
PWR
We are a nation peopled by incredibly spoiled citizens. Instant gratification -- and we want impossible gratifications, to boot. He is also, perhaps to his policies' detriment, a seeker of compromise with those who will not compromise: the most spoiled (and I fear -- the most racist) segments of our population that seek to bring him down and to tar him with utterly inappropriate smears -- "Nazi" is the most odious.
Do you really think that anyone can get this amount done, without the support of the "other" major party, with the speed and ease that you delusional people think necessary? He has done an amazing job so far, and I support him wholeheartedly.
doing. He is doing it without expanation, with a smile on his face, and evading any questions he is asked. WHEN ARE THE AMERICAN VOTERS AND THE PRESS GOING TO WISE UP!
BS. If I say that gravity works downward and you say that it works upward, that doesn't mean that it actually works somewhere in between. When a patient's heart stops, the doctor doesn't consider it a success if he manages to get half of the heart working.
With the damage that the wingnuts have done since 1994, a so-called middle course lies too far to the right to be healthy. The LAST thing we need is someone afraid to take a stand, and the only thing Obama has done so far is stand for handing out taxpayer dollars to banks so they can keep giving themselves hundreds of millions of our dollars in "performance" bonuses.
I'll believe progress WHEN I SEE IT!
http://www.pnhp.org/