Obama's First Year: It Ain't No Crystal Staircase

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners...
- Langston Hughes

Barack Obama is a leader of great capacities and great contradictions. Perhaps the measure of his capacities is the magnitude of his contractions. He is a man of exceptional grace. But the grace misleads; this is a politician of intense ambition, discipline and grit. He understands and wields the power of the word. But his soaring oratory misleads, for his temperament is moderate; his predilection is for compromise. He rouses a new generation to politics, but prefers to cut the deals in the backrooms. He calls us to a new direction, then staffs his administration's team with the acolytes of the old ideas he scorns.

One year is too soon to measure a president or assess an administration. Hell, this administration has less than half of its political appointees in place. But here in brief are six propositions on Barack Obama's first year:

1. This is the most progressive president since Lyndon Johnson.

His election ushered in what could be the greatest era for progressive reform since the 1960s. After fighting for years simply to stave off further horrors, we're now fighting over how to get to comprehensive health care, how to address global warming, calling the world to move towards nuclear disarmament. It is a big difference and should not be ignored.

Obama leads this wave. Listen to the music of the administration. Time and time again, on the economy, on civil rights, on disarmament - Barack Obama sounds a transformative call. His soaring words show us that another world is possible. The hard slog of his first months reveals just how hard it will be to get there. This ain't no crystal staircase.

2. This president seeks to do big things.

This isn't Bill Clinton running on school uniforms and TV monitors. Defying conventional wisdom, in his first year, Obama summoned the country and the Congress to address challenges that can no longer be ignored: a recovery act to stave of potential depression, comprehensive health care reform, progress on climate change, financial reform, new engagement with the world, and yet to come - immigration reform, empowering workers, and more. Powerful interests are challenged. The arguments are brutal. But the stakes are at least worth the game.

3. He is a man of the establishment, not the left.

Barack Obama is an establishment reformer, not, despite the ravings of Rush and Beck, a radical in any way. To a remarkable degree, Obama has chosen not to include leading progressives in his administration. Foreign policy is transformed, but only from the lunacy of the neocons to the "realism" of the national security mandarins. Economic policy is rescued from conservative supply side quackery, but entrusted to the dubious aegis of Bob Rubin and Goldman Sachs protégés. Not surprisingly, the populist outrage of Americans at the arrogance of Wall Street barons profiting from the taxpayers' bailout caught this administration by surprise.

4. He is weakened by his moderation, not his boldness.

The president is chided for having tried to do too much. Progressives are told that our disappointments come from exaggerated expectations. In fact, the reality is somewhat different. His accomplishments far exceed the expectations of the beltway chattering classes but fail to meet the needs of the moment.

His accomplishments in one year are impressive. A recovery package that helped stave off a depression, a bold first budget with new priorities; the largest aid to the poor since the 1960s built into the stimulus, a transformation of our relations abroad, and much more. Yet the successes are outstripped by the country's needs dictated by grim reality. The stimulus was too small; unemployment continues to rise. The banking bailout left Wall Street more concentrated and less accountable. The energy bill will not catch America up with the allies on global warming, much less seize the opportunity of leading the green industrial revolution.

The health care bill may generate a storm of protest not because it costs too much to government, but it isn't affordable to those families and individuals required to buy insurance. He personally calls a halt to the march into Afghanistan, but a moderate response, giving the generals more troops but fewer than they want, won't keep us from wading ever deeper into the muck.

5. He deserves a progressive movement that is more independent, and less obedient.

Obama's remarkable leadership inspired millions. New activists, new resources, new energy - all roused by the hope he has engendered. The administration, not surprisingly, has sought to discipline this energy, to channel it into support for its agenda. But with his agenda delayed by entrenched lobbyists and diluted by compromised Democrats, the president would have been better served by independent movements demanding far bolder change from the White House, challenging those in both parties standing in the way, exposing and confronting the lobbyists and the clubbable legislators, mobilizing outside populist anger to counter inside establishment dealing. The mobilization around the "public option" on health care, when Max Baucus, the insurance lobby and the White House were ready to discard it, shows the potential. The populist challenge to this administration should not be abandoned to the crackpot right. Roosevelt had a disputatious left, an aroused labor movement; Johnson had the Civil Rights movement; Obama deserves a movement that will march on him, not just with him.

6. It ain't over; it's only just begun.

The crisis that the president inherited continues. The administration is still finding its legs. Democrats haven't adjusted to the power that they now wield. Progressives are only beginning to challenge the limits of the current debate. The gulf between the president's vision and his administration's reality continues to grow. Will that gulf be deepened by Washington's potent, permanent status quo - the corporate lobbies, the establishment's convention, the national security apparatus, exerting ever greater power, with the president's enemies emboldened; his supporters discouraged; the public dismayed? Or will it be overcome by renewed purpose, greater mobilization, the democracy overwhelming the interests.

Obama will increasingly have to choose - whether to hold to his vision and raise the stakes, or compromise his vision to cut the deal. And those of us whom he has inspired also have to choose. Whether to sit back and hope he does the right thing against the odds, growing cynical when he fails our expectations, or to stand up, mobilize, challenge the Congress and the President to get on with the change we need. The first year is but the opening scene. We should still have the audacity to hope, and the commitment to act.

 

Comments

[capitaldysfunction]

Impressive post. Fanned.

[WomanForPeaceSanity]

Simply put, this country needs, now more than ever, for the Progressive grassroots network to step up and speak out to make this president do the bidding of the people. It is our duty to put the power of the voters on the forefront and make our government LISTEN to us! Obama said during his campaign that he needed the American people to bring about the CHANGE he spoke of. Is there anyone out there who voted for him who does not believe that now? Get active! Get involved! Join fellow activists and make it happen! Join Progressive Democrats of America to learn just what true Progressive action looks like. It will make you feel good!
"Activism is my rent for living on the planet." (Alice Walker)

[murphy80]

its a lot more simple.

he is just not a leader.

look for someone else

[disgustedwithall]

Obama has attempted to be another Roosevelt, the problem is he wants to be a Franklin R when we desperately needy a Teddy R..

[tweedledeedumb]

We have another Milton Friedman, trickle on us economics man in the White house...I'll bet not many of us thought he would be as financially conservative as Clinton, certainly but maybe Bush. Same characters in treasury giving our money to giant corporations and not regulating them at all. All of the tax cut for shipping jobs overseas are still there. I'm seeing all talk and no walk...except backwards.

[billw8017]

Candidates who run against incumbents necessarily run on a platform of change. Americans chose change in 2006 and confirmed their choice in 2008. The change was certainly due.

President Obama is bound by his Constitutional oath to enforce the laws of the United States and after the business oriented Republicans had controlled Congress since 1994, there will be business biased laws. After Republicans have held the White House through 28 of the past 40 years, the implementation of the law will be elitist. The little war on the IRS is a good example of this.

The new administration has introduced more accountability by its implementation of the Paulson initiative. In cooperation with a Democratic Congress, it has pursued an aggressive agenda for health care, global warming, UN support, nuclear disarmament and civil rights. It has avoided picking fights for the sake of picking fights.

At the last, great leadership relies on great followership that promotes its own initiatives but stands by its guy. You should consider who the enemy is rather than be the enemy yourself.

[disgustedwithall]

You will note most being busted on WS and Banks are from THREE year old investigations. The whole thing is one big eye wash and that was obvious when Obama hired Sec of NYC WS-Banks Treasury whom was IN CHARGE of NYC during the failures. THEN he gets advised by Summers whom is major player in same game. Sorry folks all we are getting is smoke and mirrors and being served Bush lite..

Obama wants to know what to. well Mr O.. review the faces and hopes on the crowds in Chicago and nation on election night.. Then tell you staff, order them "these folks, the citizens of the USA, look and listen. they had hopes and dreams :MAKE IT SO!"

For now he has not done anything, just rerun a new image of corruption and speaks of compromise, encompassing etc...but changed ZERO and is obviously not hte fighter for the people.. other then the top economic 1-5%. and the D party is even worse.. ..

[S1m0n]

1b. This is also in many regards a deeply conventional president. There's no way that the first black president could be anything BUT safe as houses. If Barack Obama had run on John Edwards' platform (not that Edwards was sincere, mind you) he'd have been treated by the establishment and the media as Jesse Jackson mk 2 - a candidate to be celebrated (patronised) but never, ever, nominated.

This is also the truth, and calling him 'the most progressive' president begs for trouble from people who are progressive in many more ways than Obama is. President Obama is NOT progressive in every regard, and he was the the most centrist of the heavyweights in the the democratic primary, despite what FOX wanted the right to believe.

In fact, what's most radical about Obama is that the revolution he's trying to foment maps poorly onto the political spectrum as it has been understood for the past three or four decades in the US. If he succeeds, the US will have undergone a sea change, and he and the democratic party will have changed the relationship and the way Americans feel about government. That's what he wants to do that is so radical and so progressive. Getting there, however, may well come at the cost of goring a few progressive sacred cows. How his party and its progressive wing reacts will determine whether his revolution succeeds or fails.

[billw8017]

I think Borosage has called it as it is. Could the President do better -- he could try, but it's not clear anybody could do better. Kucinich, as Cleveland's "boy mayor," had gone to war with the banks, and the banks put the city into bankruptcy. The potential ruthlessness of the right is only implied by the Republican's obduracy in the face of the administration's pragmatic efforts. Asked after the Ludlow massacre if he would kill all his workers, destroy his business and go broke to bust the unions, John D. Rockefeller said, Of course. He said, this was the great crisis of the day whether property rights would be defended.

The carelessness that the President's opponents treat the truth is most vividly shown in Jon Stewart's little take on Faux entertainment / news on the Daily Show on Comedy Central. Aside from complaints about "socialism" and the horrors of big government, we see self serving analysis from the insurers where they say reform means they will raise their rates -- which would be nothing new or anything they won't do anyway. Fox is Murdock: He is an Australian and doesn't really care. He is perfectly at peace with the Communist regime in China, and Australia has nationalized health care. He is just pandering to the Chamber of Commerce types who are major advertisers, but look how far he is willing to go!

[Hollypop]

I'm not hearing anything new here one way or the other.
Obama voiced what people all over the USA were feeling during his campaign and promised to change it with thier help.
It was 'hopeful' to say the least and people voted for the hope.

However it's one thing promising to do a job differently ... another to do it when you're there and presented daily with the hard facts and alternatives. Another to realise that the people can't help you do it and you are basically on your own and another to constantly have to be explaining why some of the 'hopes' will take longer to achieve than you'd 'hoped' they would.

The main thing he has achieved ( not by any means the only thing) was beating Bush in the election he merited a Nobel prize for just that in my opinion.

It's easy to stand on the outside and be critical with a fraction of the facts at your disposal ... any one can do that but it's worthless.

Obama has achieved more than some of us hoped and less than others hoped.

The bible says .... faith is the assurance of things hoped for. I still have faith in his abilities as a leader despite the hugeness of the task he has taken on leading a country that has been allowed to get in to a complete mess on every front at home and abroad.

It wasn't a clean house he moved into there were piles

[smlowry]

Too often compromising to cut the deal translates into real losses. Obama needs to hold the vision and raise the stakes. It's what this country needs, the only thing that makes sense in these times.

[tweedledeedumb]

HEar! Hear! We have gone sooo far to the right that being moderate looks like left...but it is not!

[unionave]

When we read something or hear some thing we quite often make a decision before we hear or read the complete information . I for one noticed this in jury rooms . There was so much enthusiasm about what this President was going to do about getting the mess the last administration created cleaned up that the Senate leader made a public statement that "the president was not going to push congress around because they are an equal branch of the government" . The media never repeats that statement because the turmoil they can create by claiming the President is not involved enough is more in their game . The media never repeats the part of the Obama speeches where he says "he alone can not do these things . The public must help " . Because this is not part of the media game . The public buys in to the media game and becomes impatient so the public attacks the President instead of attacking members of Congress while Congress laughs and it's business as usual . The public did not need a new President to do what needs to be done now . DEMAND public votes on laws that concern the public ! Why let a few rich people do this to millions of us ?

[PeterNY]

Like the rest of us, the President is a captive of the system. If we can cut the umbilical cord between lobbyists and campaign financing, then we will begin to see more responsible government.

Many states differentiate between lobbyists and vendors, and they limit the vendors' access to purchasing committees, which objectively evaluate their goods and services. While a lobbyist may advocate on behalf of a group or an idea, vendors just want to pump a few million dollars into the campaign system so that they can receive a cumulative trillion dollars worth of government contracts. It's marketing on the cheap, and it's a rat hole for our tax dollars.

There's nothing wrong with Mr. Obama's pragmatism, but he's triangulating a crooked path, which can only be made straighter by attacking the cause of its crookedness - our tax money.

[tweedledeedumb]

Our tax money in corporate pockets being used to lobby congress to get more tax money!

[nancytheragingliberal]

TDD: Yes, we are being ripped off and then some. I still want to know what happened to my 10 billion dollars that went missing in Iraq, my 780 billion dollar give away to filthy corporations, and I want the W. administration prosecuted for war crimes. They were/are liars, cheats, warmongers and still roam free without a second of accountability. This is just plain wrong. That Geithner-Summers duo should never have been placed in my Treasury and I was outraged by that move. O. needs to clean house and pronto.

[RenoSage]

If we don't support Obama and give his agenda all possible help and loyalty
instead of badmouthing his patience and knowledge, what ALTERNATIVES
are out there? Michelle Bachman? Joe Wilson? The lone senator holding up
benefits for veterans? The teabaggers who are bussed to DC by organizations
backed by vested interests?

[GlennInVenice]

If you accept anything that Obama gives because you feel that there are no alternatives, what kind of stratedgy is that? He is all that there is, so, yeah!

[J4Obama08]

I so agree with what you say - I love President Obama! I have a strong dislike for the Senate who are bought and paid for by the special interests - they care only about being re-elected. There are so few who are working to improve our systems. We should throw most of them out and start over again with this President and a new Senate!
My Senator, Nelson, puts his finger in the air and sees which way the wind blows.

[Doubledoot]

First : I wouldn't by any stretch consider Lyndon Jhonson a Progressive: He was one of the most conservative Democrats we have ever known. Secondly: One year IS enough time to evaluate and predict a direction. The unfortunate thing is that the "Obama Contradition" as you call it is to "say" one thing and then "not do anything" or do the wrong thing. That is not progressive : that is business as usual. Oboma is distinguished by one unfaultering aspect : His inability or unwillingness to act : Yeah he makes a great speach and you can say we all misunderstood that he spoke as a radical but at heart is a centrist. But that's a poor excuse ! I think you said is all in your # 3 above: He failed to replace the old (failed) regim with a new progressive one. We stagnate in baffoonary of the past debacle. It is time to admit these mistakes and rectify them : It that is done I would then have "hope"but as mom used to say "you may as well poop in one hand and wish in the other and see which one fills up the faster" ! A year is enough time to see the direction this is going in and it looks a lot like the status quo has won out yet again to me !

[Janelynne]

Obama has gifts to be sure, but I am worried about his substance. He ignores the intellectuals on the economy and the human suffering of those hurt, and drifts toward the Wall Street lobbiests. No reform is in sight, despite Wall Street repeating similiar shenanaghans going forward. Obama ignores his promise for human rights for gays, and drifts toward appeasement of the so-called "Christian" right. Obama promised universal health care, and seems to be drifting toward expensive alternatives that shield big pharma, and big insurance. It seems we may even drift into a wider war in Afghanistan based on pressure he is feeling from the military. I worry Obama cannot stand up to power.

I didn't appreciate that Bush had unelected advisors who pushed the doctrine of US exceptionalism and lied us into war. And I don't appreciate that Obama has adviisors who weren't elected, and who seem to be running their agenda despite what Obama has represented.

If Obama can pull a rabbit out of a hat, I am all for it. But so far, if the the trends continue, they will cost his supporters what they value the most. The opportunity cost will follow, as what may have been foreshadowed on Tuesday.

[luckyt]

The people of this country must wake up to the facts that first, this country has never been a Democracy but a Plutocracy that protects the interests of the rich and powerful. Secondly this has always been a nominal Christian Nation that uses God to justify the good as well as the bad. Third that class struggle has always been about social justice and the means by which to obtain it, whether it be peaceful or militant. Those that control Power (the Rich) and those that protect their interest (the Republican Party and Blue Dog Democrats) will never give up peacefully. There is no compromise with the enemy. President Obama does not have the courage to sand up to those that might harm him. He is a leader like Booker T. Washington, he is not up to the job he undertook of revolutionary change. We must start looking for someone to replace him in 2012 or purge the party of Obama and the Bluedogs and start a new progressive party to oppose them.

[tweedledeedumb]

Great comment! Hear! Hear!

[J4Obama08]

Yes, purge the party of Blue Dogs but please not Obama! He is still our best hope for change. He is honest, decent, hard working and wakes up every day trying his best in spite of the obstacles in his way.
Don't be naive - he has to fight special interests every day.

[Awake-and-Sing]

You forgot Proposition 7:

The President's campaign was a brilliant scam and his actions in office reveal that he is a corporate shill who appoints other pro-corporate shills and is enacting a pro-corporate agenda.

None of the items in his campaign platform would be taken seriously. FISA, Iraq, Afghanistan, a robust public health insurance option with NO mandate? Forget it. Use the campaign platform for birdcage liner. When it comes to dealing with the conservatives who got us into this mess, the store will be given away before negotiations even start. And if he promised to be your "fierce advocate", I'd recommend not bending over.

[PeterNY]

Ouch!

[disgustedwithall]

Kind of sounds like a bush supporter in D clothing?????