There's been a lot of commentary about President Barack Obama's failure to construct a winning "narrative" for the elections of 2010. In 2008, there were millions of people "fired up and ready to go." But after a year plus of the Beltway-Rahm Emanuel strategy of never exposing oneself to political risk the grassroots energy of the campaign has been allowed simply to dissipate. Robert Reich argues that "if there was ever a time to connect the dots and make the case for government as a means of protecting the public from [corporate] forces. It is now." But at this point, about seven months before the midterms, transforming Americans' view of government is a tall task, especially when many of the George W. Bush policies have clearly prevailed. The problem with Obama's "narrative" lies in the substance of what has transpired over the past year.
1). Those who wanted single-payer health care didn't even get a seat at the table, (even though it's the most fiscally responsible of the choices over the long term). And then those who wanted a "public option" or a "Medicare buy-in" had their hopes dashed. These decisions didn't do much to keep health care reform advocates fired up and ready to go.
2). Teachers and educators thought there'd be an Education Department in the Obama Administration that would move in a new direction away from Bush's failed "No Child Left Behind" policies. But all we've gotten is more teacher bashing, more union bashing, and more calls for privatization. Arne Duncan is no friend of educators. Just ask Diane Ravitch. And how can you undermine teachers' unions while claiming to be a big friend of organized labor?
3). In Afghanistan there's been an expensive escalation of the war that simply throws good money after bad. And the increase in drone attacks has only widened the war into Pakistan. It's far too late to begin celebrating "victories" in year nine of a stalemated guerrilla war.
4). There have been no prosecutions (or even wrist slaps) of people like John Yoo and other Bush officials who used chicanery to turn the United States into a nation that tortures people and denies the writ of habeas corpus. The Sunday New York Times featured a full-page advertisement from the ACLU with a series of photos where Obama's face morphs into Bush's to criticize the continuation of the Bush detention policies.
5). Every time some bureaucrat from the Obama Administration reports that the recession is "over" it only rubs salt in people's wounds. When local communities across the country are firing teachers, civil servants, and even cops due to the fiscal catastrophe, along with the steep drop in housing prices and continued high unemployment, it leads people to scratch their heads and ask if the politicians in Washington (namely, Democrats) are even on the same planet.
6). There's been no progress in passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which was one of the key drivers of union support for Obama in 2008. EFCA is the only measure that has a chance of slowing down the decline of real wages and living standards as America continues its long slide into becoming a low-skill, low-wage society. Everyone knows the Senate is going to step all over this vital labor-friendly legislation regardless of how many envelopes are licked or doors knocked on.
7). There's been no serious reforms enacted to rein in the financial services industry. The fevered trading in risky derivatives that helped tank the economy is continuing unimpeded by any new regulations. Between 2008 and 2009, the average Wall Street bonus increased by 17 percent, at exactly the same time just about everyone else in America has seen their incomes drop. The Wall Street bankers that brought down the economy have been rewarded for their colossal failure with bailouts and loan guarantees. Nobody who created the mess has been held accountable. Not Henry Paulson, not Christopher Cox, not Alan Greenspan, not Goldman Sachs. Nobody. Leaving people to wonder: Where the hell is Obama's SEC?
8). Cap and Trade? Forget about it.
So the question is: Who among Obama's base is going to be "fired up and ready to go" for the November midterm elections?
During the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush years the center of American politics was pushed about a hundred degrees to the Right. Obama gets elected and tries to move it about a half degree leftward and all we hear are screams of "socialism!" In reality, the only group to receive "socialism" so far from this administration has been the biggest investment banks on Wall Street.
Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey believes the problem started on January 21, 2009 while he offers up some of the stupidest political "advice" I've ever heard. "They made a big mistake right out of the box with the Inaugural Address," a New York Times article quotes Kerrey as saying, because a president who pledged "bipartisanship" should not have disparaged the previous administration. By Kerrey's logic I suppose FDR shouldn't have criticized Herbert Hoover either. (Memo to Democrats: Don't take political "advice" from Democrats from Nebraska.)
The Obama White House reportedly has 13 million supporters on a vast email list. But those emails won't mean much if you turn on the TV and see Obama campaigning for Blanche Lincoln. The anger among voters is palpable out there. Much of it is neither "left" nor "right." At this point, the Democrats have not only failed to tap into this anger, as the party in power, they're rapidly becoming the focus of it.
Follow Joseph A. Palermo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/N/A
If Obama was in your world somehow the only person involved in the government (aka a Dictator) then I suppose I would be a lot more disappointed.
I dont know about you but I dont want to go to a doctor who gets paid less then my manicurist. Most people dont realize that when they see patients for free it is not a write off on taxes. Most people dont realize that the payment fee quoted on the medicare form is not what doctors actually receive. They receive 80% & wait months to collect. Doctors are burned out and cant afford to keep their doors open. ( not everyone is a back surgeon so dont believe the income numbers quoted) Health care in America is about to resemble the motor vehicle office and the offices will be staffed in the same way! The legal profession however is untouchable in this country and as long as they make the doctors the villians they are safe.
How many hospital management corporations know jack squat about maintaining nursing staffs? How many nurses' aides and physician assistants get laid off or work double efforts because yet another administrator needs that 85k salary for pushing papers around on a desk?
No!! Obama was too chickenshit [thanks to Rahm's "wise counsel"] to even ATTEMPT to move a half a degree to the left.
Take a good look back over the stuff Obama's done, and see if you can find ANYTHING that "moves leftward." I'm waiting. [Crickets.]
What Obama [and Rahm] didn't understand is that the Republicans are going to accuse Democrats of being "socialist" or whatever there insult-du-jour is. Why not just go on out there TO THE LEFT, because you're going to get accused of it anyway.
Obama thought he could avoid the criticism by "staying in the middle" or "tacking right." We can all see how well THAT turned out.
If you're not on his payroll (or he's not on yours) it's hard to see this Presidency as a success.
I certainly could relate to Joe's points here.
by Chris Hedges:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/08-2
This election is like a rigged tennis match in which, win or lose, the winner takes the trophy cup and the multimillion dollars cash prize, and the losers are the audience who have to go home and pay the bill to build the stadium to stage the game. The game will be interesting only to those with nothing to lose, and will be a hangover for everybody else.
Indeed.
Fanned.
He is part of the far left,no he*s a corporatist.
He is wasting time reaching out to Republicans while not including enough Republican ideas He has restored American standing in the world and he has made us weaker internationally, He*s a Socialist, a Communist ,a Sleeper agent of "Al- Qaeda "'.You are being Propagandized so that nothing will change and Re-Thugs can come back in 2016.Death by a Thousand Cuts. Everybody can Play !
."The American People'' should devote as much energy to their political issues as they do to their Super Bowl parties.Get off your computer,turn off your television,or kill it, and get out in the streets,protest and strike.
I hear you.Both parties are filled with lies and corruption.
I don't listen to the MSM anymore. I get my news from better sources such as democracynow.org, commondreams, rollingstone, etc. and some stories here.
I will vote true to my progressive principles--no more of the duoploy.
I'm an Independent now.
I can't vote for these corporation first corrupt parties anymore.
My time is too valuable to waste on useless politics.
Time to hunker down and take care of my own.
At present there's a landslide re how this horrid Senate bill is going to pass. There's NO examination of the terrible provisions in it -- just "horse race" coverage about "will it or won't it."
What we need is more "should it or shouldn't it."
I've had to cut back those few MSNBC programs I watch, because now even Lawrence O'Donnell & Rachel seem to be examining this travesty solely in light of "will it be a win for Obama," not "how badly has his 'leadership [sic]' screwed the country and the Democratic party, and will this bill be the final nail in the Democratic coffin."
Tired and discouraged?: hell, the only thing that could inspire me in 2012 is a challenger to Obama.
I remember when there used to be news in this country. Now it's all "reality" TV.