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.