Obama and the Revival of Responsibility
In his speech last night, Barack Obama symbolically turned the page on eight years of irresponsibility and recklessness and called on Americans to take responsibility for themselves, for others, and for the future of the planet.
The radical-conservative Republicans of the Bush era paraded around dressed in a cloak of oh so responsible "fiscal rectitude" -- berating progressives as "reckless tax-and-spenders." But in reality they were more like children playing dress up in adult clothes.
They pretended to be your sober, tight-fisted grandfather but all the while they behaved like rich teenagers who came into their inheritance to early and squandered it on fast cars, and wild parties.
Obama reminded America that his predecessors had squandered a fiscal surplus to enrich the wealthiest two percent of Americans with tax breaks. They refused to invest in the education and health care of our children. They endangered the future of our climate and planet to allow energy companies to engorge themselves with profit. And they jeopardized the peace of the world to satisfy their longing for empire.
They let Wall Street bankers create a speculative bubble of trillions of dollars of artificial wealth and drain away the buying power of ordinary Americans that is necessary to sustain long term economic growth.
They ignored the warning signs that the economic hour was late, and partied on like frat boys who decided to blow off the final exam. And when the final exam finally came, they failed.
Last night Barack Obama spoke to Americans as adults. He told America that responsibility for others is not just a stupid value for chumps -- but the definition of begin a grown-up. He told us that the era of "where's mine" -- where success is defined by seven-figures salaries and five-thousand dollar designer suits -- is over. He challenged America to once again take charge of our futures and fulfill our potential -- to invest in future generations. And he pledged to lead us there.
Last week I was in Jordan and went to Mount Nebo, where Moses first looked over the River Jordan and saw the Promised Land. As we all know, Moses never made it to the Promised Land himself, but he led his people there and built the foundation for the success of children he would never know.
Someone once said that responsibility is about planting trees under which you will never personally sit.
Responsibility is one of the cornerstones of progressive values. And it is critical to our success -- especially in the new globalized world where events everywhere directly affect our lives.
The idea that we are responsible for each other is embedded in all of the great religions -- in the golden rule: "love they neighbor as thyself." But it's really a relatively new idea.
Evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond' study of human development, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, points out that the first question for a typical member of one band of hunter-gatherers, when he encountered a member of another band, was why he should not kill them on the spot.
The universality of the ethical demand to "love thy neighbor as thyself" is a very recent development in human evolution. It has emerged only over the last several thousand years of our approximately seven million years of evolutionary history. Previously, most behavior involving moral content pertained only to members of our own band, tribe or ethnic group.
At this point in history, responsibility for others is not some "soft" or "utopian" value, it is critical to our success and survival on our increasingly crowded planet. More than that, it's the key that will both prevent us from destroying ourselves -- and can unlock exponentially expanding human possibility in the 21st century.
And of course when you say it to people -- when you call on their best instincts instead of pandering to their selfishness and prejudice -- people know that you're right. They instinctively respond when they are called upon to be the best they can be; when -- as Barack Obama did last night -- they are addressed as adults and inspired by hope.
As millions of people came to Washington to participate in Barack Obama's inaugural celebration the nation was swept by a rebirth of true patriotism -- not xenophobia but pride in what America could be once again.
Last night Barack Obama honored a bank president who gave his $60 million bonus to all of his employees and retirees. He honored a young woman who wrote Congress to ask them for help for her school so that she and here classmates could get a descent education and make a contribution to our society -- who said that she was not "a quitter."
After a long absence, America once again has national leadership that truly believes in responsibility. Historians will look back on Obama's speech last night as one of the founding documents of a new progressive era.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," available on amazon.com.
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Dear Robert,
Thank you for this blog.
I couldn’t agree more about the adolescent behavior of the past and that now we must grow up and become the adults we actually are. Taking responsibility is the only way that each of us of us as individuals as well as us as a society will reach our full potentials. Maybe even survive.
I’ve included a recent article that speaks to this very topic http://twu
Thank you again, Dr. Jennifer Howard
Bailing out banks, homeowners and autos
when does responsibility begin?
The message about responsibility is a good one.
The IRONY is that everyone seems to think the message is for someone else.
Particularly true of progressives (they think he's only talking about republicans!)
Yes they were all that---but DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN INCONTROL SINCE 2006.
No mention of that...
I'll never have to worry about paying my mortgage, filling my gas tank, or buying my Prozac again....I
Responsibility-wise we have a responsibility to personally pay more taxes if we want more government (no, this does not mean that we should get "other people" to pay more taxes so we can get more for ourselves, no matter what President Obama says. Right now, I'd say a lot of "progressives" need to get busy and earn more so they can pay more. The bottom 50% paid less than 3% of total income taxes in 2006 per the below, from the IRS.
Percentiles Ranked by AGI
AGI Threshold on Percentiles
Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Top 1%
$388,806
39.89% of total paid
Top 5%
$153,542
60.14%
Top 10%
$108,904
70.79%
Top 25%
$64,702
86.27%
Top 50%
$31,987
97.01%
Bottom 50%
Hard to get a good job and 'make more' when the GOP policies of deregulation / trickle down put us into a crisis. Truth is the top 3 % get way more tax breaks, & perks, even big oil, and huge corporations that ship jobs overseas. Cheney's Halliburton made billions - some for work never done. The govt waste has been phenominal during Bush's time. NO bid contracts- Bush even voted no to let Medicare negotiate drug prices with big pharma ! and Voted no many times to an increase in minimum wage- he doesn't want folks to make a living wage. Repub power broker- Tom delay was on TV - he was telling his usual lies- like the ones that got him convicted. The middle class has lost wages in real dollars.al
facts be damned stick to the party talking points
The top 3 percent pay about half the income taxes.
People who post in discussion boards have a responsibility not to selfishly hog the page space.
Enough of the greed that has made our nation this way!
The Speech was a wonderful re-affarmation of the Golden Rule.
So all of the people who invested in money-making scams are now screaming that they are going to be resposible for helping us to recover and it is p**s**g them off. Too bad! Face the reality! You have reaped the fruits, so now it is your turn to pay the piper.
The only people I hear whining are Repuplicans who have had a free lunch for a very long time and are now complaining that they are handed a bill for the free lunch that bthey so enjoyed!
Get over it!
Great article. On the money. It will not go over well with the irresponsible, Bush frat boys.
Thank you for a thoughtful commentary. Obama has seen first hand the degeneration of leadership at all levels of American society and he is addressing it head on on a variety of fronts.
I would like to take issue with the opinion stated as fact that early tribal leaders on meeting other tribes decided to kill or otherwise. Most likely, their curiousity and immediate attraction to each others unattached females, inventions and other man made things caused them to trade and create a new relationship between groups. Of course there surely existed some groups that were led by mad men and such tribes were to be avoided at all costs.
Also, people at all levels of Obama's Administration, including the members of Congress and the Courts will begin to behave more responsibly. CEO's of private organizations will acknowledge the existence of public responsibility and trust. Members of the various bureaucracies will be less venial and unproductive. Americans in general will be less selfish and more selfless and honest. This prediction is based upon the assumption that CEO Obama practices what he demands from us.
Although the liberal sentimentality here makes me cringe, I would agree that Creamer misrepresented Diamond's anecdote. The context was that even in a low-resource environment, where simple survival made eliminating competition a rational response, and was considered "common sense", the people involved tried very hard to justify not doing it (by reciting family lineages to try and find out if they were related, which would let them off the hook).
Diamond was illustrating cultural conflict-avoidance mechanisms, not making a moral statement. Also note that this involved people who were basically from the same cultural group, and both parties would have understood the underlying premises (at least, intuitively).
Robert, you are obviously out of your mind, and you need some serious help. Obama, Pelosi and crew are running a bigger ponzi scheme than Madoff.
you weren't reading well: Grow Up!
"After a long absence, America once again has national leadership that truly believes in responsibility" -- hear, hear! Let's hope that Obama inspires a wave of leadership that we have been sorely lacking for over 20 years.
"Love thy neighbor as thyself" -- the GOP, so in thrall to the religious right, goes out of its way to wallow in nastiness displaying a super-hypocrisy that, by design or not, leaves most Americans speechless and dismayed.
Obama has raised the bar and the standard for all politicians who dare to follow in his footsteps. Accountability. Responsibility. Diplomacy.
Responsibility for corporations. Great! However, he's simply flipped the coin over and let personal responsibility off the hook. He just undid Clinton's welfare reform. Now states get rewarded for growing welfare roles. Can't get a job? No worry, welfare is here. My mom worked at a temp agency in the early 90s before welfare reform. She would get jobs for people and they wouldn't show up for them. When she asked them why they didn't show, they said they do ok on welfare and they are only applying for jobs because they have to show they are trying to get work.
True. But I'm so afraid that the hard line GOP will crush Obama with lies and BS -with help from Limbaugh / Hannity / Coulter - They want power and control back. Thats all they know. If you saw Tom Delay on Hardball - he was sneering & laughing about Obama .The GOP is in full smear mode. They are ruthless. They will do / say anything to get power back. Matthews just let Delay lie and lie- and Chris said nothing. What a coward - no wonder folks are confused. Big shot media can't even tell us whats fact from fiction.
I agree take over the fed then phase them out over time. Bernake is just trying now to justify their existence when their original inception was a complete con job to sieze power from the government.
Now that they have totally lost control they are using Bernake to grovel in front of the banking. Face it the Fed is spent.
Yes, instead of thinking privately about abolishing the Fed, which has been overfed, we ought to make it public.
Instead of privately thinking of disrupting foreign site of active industrialization, we ought to talk publically about this.
The same is true about the theft of our intellectual property by Asia.
Have you read a technical paper recently? Most of the cutting edge R&D is being done by Asians.
He's referring to entertainment media, that is, the only intellectual property America really makes anymore.
If you read between the lines, they (meaning Obama and congress) are telling us that we will need to take care of each other because THEY WON'T.
That is the cruxt of the whole "service" platform they are pushing. The trillion$ they rake in taxes won't be going to help the needy. Heck, all my taxes for the year barely pay for 1 Blackwater merc for a month.
Corporate welfare and global warfare ain't cheap! (write that down)
They are we. We are they. Or, to put it another way, there is no "they"; there is only we. That was Obama's point, and Mr. Creamer's too. And Jesus' as well.
"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together"
It's like Hillary Clinton's idea of "Let the village raise your children." Okay. I know those aren't her exact words. But it's closer to what the Democrats believe.
I am responsible. My wife and I worked hard for decades. We pay our taxes. That would be real estate taxes, the bulk of which goes to the education establishment that cares first of all about teachers, somewhere in there about kids, and lastly about the taxpayer. That would be income taxes, with no credits or exemptions for kids, or any real advantages. We pray for the day we can itemize and get free deductions with the standard deduction. But that won't come too soon because we have an oppressively high state income tax AND the highest per capita state budget deficit, so those taxes will go up or remain high. We participate responsibly in the economy, spending some serious dollars that we have earned. We stay out of everyones' way and live clean lives.
I can see your eyes roll, and sense your blood pressures rise, and watch "you got yours" form on your keyboard. One thing that I don't see, and will never see, is "Thanks."
The U S government should set up a "Thank a Taxpayer" web site, where people who we are responsible for supporting express their thanks for our continued support. But people like me and my wife are instead despised and looked to for more.
Take responsibility for YOURSELVES. That is the American way.
I am responsible too. I've paid my mortgage on time for the last 20+ years, I haven't charged more than I can pay, etc,. I have been lucky to keep my job, stay healthy, etc. It COULD happen to you -- you lose your job, have an ilness that wipes you out financially. Then maybe you try to sell your house and move into a less expensive one and, guess what -- due to depreciation of home values, you owe more than you can sell it for. These are the circumstances that people have that will be helped by the stimulus package.
Even if you DO pay your mortgage, YOUR home value goes down if someone in your neighborhood has to foreclose. So it behooves YOU for your neighbor to get help so that he can keep his house. Call it "dependent on the government" if you like, but it's for the good of all of us.
Taxes are how we pay for our way of life. You want paved roads, fire and police protection, public schools (like it or not that's how most of us got our education), prisons to keep criminals off the streets, taxes pay for them. Sure, I'd like to keep more of my money and if the top 2% of the wealthiest people in the US would pay their share, we could all keep more of our money.
None of us are in this alone, but your "me only" attitude makes me sick.
Thats telling them. We atheists have to tell those damn brother keeping Christians to wise up. It is every man for himself just the way god wanted us to be. I got mine jack.
Listening to Obama last night I felt as if I was being invited to a lavish banquet where guests were promised every delicacy imaginable. Eventually Obama got to the fine print and Obama reminded me I was not invited to his party, but, I was expected to pay the bill.
You are invited, but like several Republican governors and numerous "I've got mine, you get yours" _don't tax the rich_ "only the little people pay taxes (than you, Leona Helmsley)_ alternate-
We don't do no-bid contracts anymore.
Welcome to adulthood. We work to build the better world for our children, sometimes we can do so fast enough to enjoy it ourselves, but adults, people who care, who are responsible, should be more interested in what they can build, than in what they can take.
Indeed, we do need to build this lavish banquet, fix our environment, economy, education, etc. - for future generations, and for ourselves. We broke it, we spent our budget for our lavish banquet in ruining the environment, spending money like mad, buying more than we could afford, letting corporations destroy the environment in exchange for cheaper stuff for us.
Where's your lavish banquet? It's already been spent by the Republican policies of deregulation and neglect.
You make some great points. It's too bad some people STILL don't get it - the Republican policies and their self-serving attitudes sent us down this path. We need to be thankful that we have a leader who does get it and knows what needs to be done.
We, most of Los Angeles are very with Obama, and what he said last night, what he stand for. Los Angeles, Board of Supervisors was serviced notice on yesterday (2-24-09) that they will be held individually in the cover-up of Los Angeles Sheriffs misconduct. The beat of a woman in 2004 behind the Lynwood Jail http://www
O’yes, the County has been paying off Judges, to the tune of $40,000.00 each
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