So I know that most of you are like me, "cynics" or "PUMAs" or "bitter dead enders" or otherwise irredeemable and more importantly, ignored by People Who Matter. But just for the fun of it, I have to ask: what, if anything, could Obama do to win your love? And support? Perhaps even to the point of you picking up a phone, writing a letter, signing a check, or heaven forfend, getting in a car and standing up at a protest, or some similar 'extreme' action?
I wonder because although I think he won't go all the way, backchatter seems to be that Obama, male Leo that he is, is starting to understand that Republicans only want to use him as a punching bag, and all this "let's be bipartisan" shit isn't going to get him anywhere, nor the warm fuzzies his ego so desperately wants. Like HRC, Obama could come to understand that his power source is, in fact, with the progroot base, and that the bobbleheads in the Village
will *never* do more than cut him out the rug from under him, no matter how much he placates them. Just like we've been telling him all along.
But. Would you be part of a fantasy "New Obama Who is Actually Progressive" party, and if so, what for?
Consider this more CD-fanatsy blogging. Still, more people read this crap than you'd guess, metric measurers wise, and shit. So go for it: express yourself.
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obama
if Obama gets the economy going well enough for me to be in a position to write a check, then I will certainly write one.
I never cared too much for HRC, so I just ceased to care about the Democratic party. When Medicare for All is signed I may feel differently.
I've been crystal clear for months
1. Single payer
2. HOLC*
Both perfectly normal, baseline, unexceptionally fucking mainstream Social Democratic programs that put the real economy first. Every other civilized country in the world has the first; and the second worked under FDR -- and is supported by Nouriel Roubini, among others.
And since I know it's impossible to make Versailles
accountable for anything, I'll give up on any actual prosecutions of the Bush criminals. However:
3. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission would be awfully nice.
Oh, and if Obama pisses away another couple of trillion on the banks, he'll never be able to win anything with policy, since there will be no money for us. As I'm sure is the objective of the parasites who advocate that approach, Larry "Women and Children Last" Summers. So it's a trade-off. I don't have to say "Stop teabagging the banksters" because if you give me HOLC and single payer, there will be no money for them.
In other words, good policy. Funny thing, CD -- you got in first on this idea, parallelism of great minds -- but I was going to post on the same idea: That surely even Obama must be figuring out that everybody, but everybody in the Village
is trying to fuck him, that they're a hell of a lot more experienced (and, er, diagnosed) than he is, and that there are really are other people whose loyalty he can earn by delivering. Now, I think he thought that the hip, young hedge fund managers were those people, but, my goodness, that didn't turn out so well, did it.
Good policy that helps us, and not the people who want to collect fees from us. Health care now, not computerized health records five years from now, as in his ludicrous Op-Ed piece today. Stop splitting the difference with us and Hank Paulson's golfing buddies. That's all he has to do. I don't know the basketball term for this, but smash mouth football is what it would take. Not this Machiavellian shit, if that's even what's going on. We know Obama can do that if he wants, since that's how he won the primary.
NOTE * Note that I think HOLC is the wedge to fuck the banksters, since we can force open their balance sheets with it. No doubt this is why they fight it.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Simple
1. Single Payer
2. HOLC
3. Employee Free Choice
4. Raise salary limits for FICA withholding to strengthen SS
5. Gradually escalating hardball for Dems opposing progressive agenda
I don't know if this is accurate, but it seems that Obama is appearing as the only spokesman for the Democrats, hence news anchors referring to "Obama's stimulus plan." Whether this is deliberate policy or congress critters not wanting to step in pony doo doo I don't know. So far 2009 is looking too much like 2007: the Dems won the election but the Repubs are still in charge.
IMO the policies, the media messaging, the handling of transition all speak of too much naivete and too damn little reality. If this doesn't change soon the thugs will be back in power before you can say untransformational.
trust lambert to put it better than i could
as usual.
it's funnny. lb has such a rep for being "angry" and "extreme." and yet, what he's proposing isn't so far-reaching, not even with lots of supposedly intractable blue dogz in congress.
nice post, mang.
Time to bring back one of the classics
Perhaps I should update Sixteen ways of not being angry or hateful:
Yep. You know, if I were really angry, I'd waltz round the intertubes smearing other people as racist. But then... that wouldn't be changing the tone, now would it?
And yes, that's my program. Crystal clear from my posts over time. The key point though, is to crowd out the other shit with this. I don't think you can support the empire and HOLC + single payer, either. But the program is positive.
UPDATE Thing is, Obama can't fake it, either. People are starting to notice -- as you did, CD, in your analysis of the Inaugural Speech.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
One more metaphor
I feel like one of the Eastern European dissidents who "just wanted to live in a normal country." Not so easy, and outcomes not an unmixed blessing, though better, obviously.
Continuing in that vein, it may be that Obama's foreign analog is not Blair, but Gorbachev. To be followed, after some chaos, by Putin. Eh?
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Nice post Lambert. I guess I'd like to see him earnestly tackle
the impending depression by implementing some of the suggestions of his fellow democrats, such as HOLC.
I love this job!
CD, check out this lively discussion from back in the day
http://www.correntewire.com/what_it_takes
I am Skully
I want to believe (whether BIO believes I do or not).
It even gave me a tinge of long nascent "hope" to read a headline today, in its newspaper box saying basically "Obama to Cap Executive Pay". Even knowing that the details emasculate it, just reading that line tells me Bush isn't in charge anymore. And that fills me with happiness.
So what can he do to win me over? I'll throw some from out of the normal box.
How about ending the embargo and travel restrictions on Cuba? Could any one gesture be more potent to signal the dawn of a fresh new era?
How about using the incredible opportunity offerred by the world upon his inauguration? How about reinforciing that opportunity with a truly global tour? Get away from Versailles
and the palace intrigues.
Along that line, get away from the drip, drip, drip of moving the chains forward in 6 inch increments. Let er rip all at once, aiming for a touchdown on every issue, that way all the complainers have to fight for air-time.
And for the FSM's sake, end the bi-partisan schtick immediately I won't believe you are serious about anything until you do. I mean when even E.J. Dionne says you need to grow a pair because you are have had your ass handed to you since the first, there might be something to it.
The government that governs by a thousand small increments can die by a thousand small cuts.
-----------------------------
I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.
re. the bipartisan schtick
<>
i'm with you completely, but.... i think he actually dropped it!
have you guys heard his remarks to the house dems today??
i was absolutely blown away; he actually sounded like a true (in the best sense) Democrat!
i voted for Cynthia, but... i'm really starting to dig the guy.
Do you mean this speech?
http://www.correntewire.com/better_0
VL - actually, this one:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community...
for example:
"don’t come to table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped create this crisis.
We’re not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that in eight short years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. We can’t embrace the losing formula that offers more tax cuts as the only answer to every problem we face, while ignoring critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, the soaring cost of health care, failing schools and crumbling bridges, roads and levees."
i watched some bits of that speech, too, and i was quite impressed.
i swear, he actually sounded *partisan*, and i actually trusted him.
go figure, maybe he is not a GOP Trojan horse, after all...
Gosh durn it, inna, he gives up the framing right from the start
Someone check his voter records -- is he a registered Independent? Because, Christ he's afraid of acting like a Democrat.
And, once again, he focuses only on health care costs, a gateway drug to a "uniquely American" solution that kisses the ass of Big Insurance.
Then there's the Shock Doctrine panic mode that got us The Big Give:
The only important thing is that this bill passes, not whether it's the right bill.I appreciate that there is more partisan content than before, but the meta-framing still sux. He's like an alcoholic that's currently drinking less... but not not drinking.
Gaa, it's even worse
At first, I'd just read the excerpt at the top of that link. There's even more capitulation in the full text.
How do you like them donkeyphobic apples?
I just had four rivalgasms upon reading a single sentence with both "Serious
" and "bipartisan" in it!
Worst of all, there's this:
Utter bullshit. The kind of "scrutiny" the plan is getting is the well-coordinated attempt of the worst elements of Beltway politics to make the bill as unfair and unproductive as possible.
And, like in the other speech I critiqued, there's that riff about the jobs he's creating being in the blessed private sector. 'Cause, you know, anything the government does is tainted (at least he's expanding the office of Faith Based Initiatives and integrating it into the NSC, so magical, über-moral folk can do what government can't).
Finally, in his speeches, do you ever hear him talk about poverty and the chronically unemployed? Nope, only the Middle Class and "working families" deserve our empathy.
"We must not approach these challenges as Democrats"
wow, i missed that bit.
quite donkeyphobic, indeed - in fact, grotesquely so. (wtf, Obama??)
thanks, Vast.
One phrase, one speech, on day does not a trend make for Obama--
When it was necessary to cement, regain, his lead in the primaries, he could and would say things that sounded like Democratic proposals, principles.
What has to be watched is the trend line--and that ain't progressive or liberal or even Democratic.
Keep watching, listening. Maybe he will decide to trend Democratic/prog/lib -- but one day does not do it.
Just words? Yes, just words. Wait for the actions, emphasis, follow-through.
And carefully analyze those words which sound kinda good. The old trust and hope, but verify, verify, verify.
single payer single payer
single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer single payer
HR 676 NOW NOW NOW!
[35 cosponsors as of today]
JOBS JOBS JOBS NOW NOW NOW!
stop. just... stop.
what he said.
Tree Hugger gets it for me but...
there is one more thing - the misogynistic rhetoric must be acknowledged and apolgoized for. If McCain had said that every now and then Obama gets down, ties one on with some moonshine and spends the evening tap dancing with his buddies to get his spirtis up, the backlash would have been instantaneous, ferocious and appropriate. But when Obama says that Clinton periodically gets down and attacks to boost her appeal - a purely misogynistic thought - everyone looks the other waY.
Obama is no better than Strom Thurmond, and just like racists need to apologize before they are taken seriously, so does Obama.
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
No love lost
Maybe, it's just semantics, but there is nothing he could do to win my love. He is my president; he's not my family nor a friend.
Now, if he wants to be my ally, because, after all, I matter just as much as him in this equation as his boss, there are a few things he could do:
1. Make Free Trade both free and fair with the major emphasis on being fair. As a Michigander, this is very close to home. We have to quit looking the other way while the Chinese counterfeit things like auto parts, while the Japanese manipulate their currency, while the rest of the world imposes all kinds of tarrifs and duties above even what we protect here in America with farm subsidies.
2. Single payer, period.
3. Putting an end, unequivocally, to the Reagan era. That includes burying Reagonics, Reagan's Culture War, etc...
4. Accountability, not just for his administration, but the one prior.
5. A complete and comprehensive review of our military bases around the world, with an emphasis on dismantling the empire.
I'm sure there is more, but that hits on some major ones. As a Reagan acolyte, I'm pissing into the wind hoping on number 3, but I think he could put major dents in the other one.
But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...
He could quit
He'll never get my love. What he and the party did was violate the voter's right of self-determination. IMHO, that was unforgiveable.
It is his job now to do the right thing. He has to learn everything and do it quick. I am a harsh task master and don't want any bullshit excuses. It's time to grow a genuine political philosophy that is based on his love of country over his love of himself.
Frankly, I am pessimistic. The times call for a great leader with a vision and the experience to carry it out. Obama would have to be the superman he claimed to be in order to pull it off and he began badly by running a dreadful campaign that had to be rescued by the party. He is not a natural leader. He is a product. He will not exceed my expectations. He is already a failure for not anticipating how serious the economic downturn really is.
What I expect him to do is call in someone like the Big Dawg to give him lessons on how to be a president and which levers to pull and push. It's the only way out of this disaster he's created for himself and us.
As for love? Forget it. He'll never get my love. I know when I've been abused and when the trust is gone, it's gone, baby, gone.
Come together at The Confluence
He can stop waging war
around the world and start waging one right here -
against the Republicans!
Jaysuz, look at where republican polices have gotten us. We want change. Now give us some! If he gives in to Wall Street and continues to screw the public, he can kiss his ass goodbye. One termer.
Obama needs to stop all the crap
and listen to Krugman - for once.
Easy peas
NOW NOW NOW:
1. Repeal the bankruptcy bill
2. HOLC
3. FISA
4. TARP accountability retroactive and forward
5. Actual Krugman sized stimulus and 5 year plan
THIS TERM THIS TERM
6. Single Payer or a strong series of steps that way
7. Apologies for complicity in Prop 8
AS LONG AS WE'RE ASKING FOR PONIES
8. Recall Alito
9. Full investigations and prosecutions for GWB era felonies thefts treasons and undisclosed illegal conflicts of interest in private sector (banking war supply contracts) and govt (torture Justice department FDA EPA FEC..)
And.. throw in that 'milk' thing.