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Progressive bloggers need to stop complaining about the economic recovery package and start prodding their readers to make phone calls. And you, dear reader, should join me in calling our senators.
There are two reasons why Obama’s economic recovery package needs to pass and why we, progressive bloggers and blog readers, should support it and call for action.
First, Obama must win this fight. I’m with Krugman, Stirling Newberry, and others – I’m not sure this package is going to be big enough or bold enough to solve our economic problems. But I can tell you one thing for certain: If this bill gets defeated, there will be absolutely no chance for recovery, let alone anything else like health care, energy, education, and the like. If Obama loses the first big fight he picks, he gets cautious really quickly, just like Bill Clinton.
Second, if netroots activists don’t go all in on this fight, we lose relevance. We criticize Democratic politicians for treating us like a cash machine to tap every time they need re-election funds. Once they’re in Congress they promptly forget about us and our needs. Well, if the only time we’re going to put our power and credibility on the line is when these people need to get elected, they’ll only turn to us during elections.
If we refuse to take a risk and get involved in legislative battles between elections, we shouldn’t be surprised when our wishes are ignored. Back before the election, we had no trouble asking our readers to get to the phones. I participated in an effort that generated hundreds of thousands of calls about FISA. There were numerous pleas for calls during the last SCHIP fight under Bush. But since the election I’ve seen none of this. If politicians know we won’t get their back during legislative fights, why should they stick their necks out for us?
There’s a lot of writing about the economic recovery plan on blogs like Daily Kos, Open Left, Americablog, Crooks and Liars, and Talking Points Memo, but something is absent. Not one post is asking readers to pick up the phone. Or write a letter. Or visit their Member of Congress. People definitely have something to complain about. But now that the Senate is debating, the time for complaining is over. It’s time for action.
To be sure, there are exceptions. MyDD has a post up. So does Seeing the Forest. So does Firedoglake. Bleeding Heartland too. ACORN is in on it. And Campaign for America’s Future has been doing a ton. But it’s hardly the swarm of blog posts we’ve had in the past.
Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh supporters outnumber progressive calls 100 to 1. As Bill Scher says:
Are we flooding Congress with phone calls (Call 1-866-544-7573 NOW!) to keep President Obama’s economic recovery bill big and bold? Or are we overly focused with perfection, letting conservatives, despite their diminishing numbers, dominate the phone lines?
I’m not saying bloggers need to support this package blindly. Our message should push from the left even as it supports. Asking people to call with the message, "Less tax cuts, more investment in jobs," if communicated loudly enough, would allow politicians room to move left in their policy. But there’s simply no excuse for sitting back, criticizing, and not calling for action.
So, for the country’s sake, stop complaining and start acting. I don’t care how you do it. Call the Senate switchboard (202.224.3121). Call your Senators in their home offices (look up their websites here). Go visit your Members of Congress, either in DC or at home. Sit at your computer and click a button to call your Senators. Health Care for America Now will even hand-deliver your letter to Congress if you just take a moment to write one.
We can be blind followers (like the Right), we can be supporters from the left, or we can be silent and irrelevant. I hope you choose to make your voice heard. And for those of you out there who blog yourselves, write a post asking others to do the same.
15 Comments
Well, I’ve called my senators and congressman twice just this week. I too, fear that we will fall back into believing they will watch out for us now that they are up there.
I think alot of people are calling, I don’t know which ones, because the guy I talked to at one of my senators offices was pretty abrupt and kinda rude…….busy, I guess.
i’ve made a lot of calls to members of congress, but none yet to request passage of this bill. if you want me to do that, you’re going to have to explain why you think the senate’s version of the bill will work and address the major complaints against it. lay out the pros and cons with depth and made the case. please.
i’m asking to be convinced.
Well, this bill is good, it’s just not good enough, at least that’s all I’ve heard from Krugman and others. It’s the biggest spending package since perhaps FDR. It puts billions into relief for states so they can keep up programs like Medicaid and COBRA. It invests in infrastructure, education, and health care. Make no mistake, this likely won’t be enough, and there are major issues with it, but we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and I’ve yet to hear anyone I trust on economics arguing that this bill will materially make things worse. So if it does some good, even if that’s not enough good, we should be for it.
I’ve yet to hear anyone I trust on economics arguing that this bill will materially make things worse.
That’s my position on this as well. We all want the best bill, and a bill that gets the most bang for our buck, but we tend to forget the political climate we live in. The mainstream/right wing media is a formidable opponent which the Democratic party is underestimating, again, at its peril.
This from Obama in the Washington Post is a good start. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t recall seeing Clinton ever doing this, as well as the interview blitz on all networks, with health care back in ‘93.
Also Dday at Hullaballoo makes very good points about this as well and urges us to call our reps. Recommended reading.
I wanted to highlight this quote from Dday, but I clicked “publish” before I got there:
and
In other words, when we “on the left” lament the fact that the bill doesn’t do enough, we advance the conservative cause because the default it to do nothing at all.
ok, read dday’s. here’s the thing:
i think obama’s plan represents the failed status quo far more that what we actually need – not want – need.
bottom line, in this case, because so much is on the line, i don’t see the upside of supporting obama no matter how much he moves to the right just because it’s less bad than what the Rs have in mind.
appreciate the response, but think maybe i wasn’t clear. i’m a bit of a stickler for trying to do my own thinking (with the understanding that has lots of limitations). i don’t expect a multi hundred page thesis – but i do expect an argument about what is in this bill that makes the good outweigh the bad. an appeal to authority doesn’t cut it with me (especially when those same authorities have also said that Larry Summers and crew are smart and know what to do (my opinion of Summers could not be lower) and that the TARP had to be passed right away (months later half of it is still unspent). i mean, what’s the difference between being a blind follower and asking me to be convinced by appeals to authority?
furthermore, threats of a depression without a convincing argument to back it up strikes me as fear mongering – not saying that’s what you are doing, only that it has that affect on me. and btw, my guess is that a depression is more likely than not, which is why i’ve been following current events and trying to play catch up on this one. but i just don’t see how this bill is going to do anything more than delay that AND make it harder to address down the road while giving the right ammunition for cutting back on the safety net (aka “entitlements”).
The real argument why this bill should pass is the political one I’ve laid out above. If this doesn’t pass, we can expect to get nothing in the future from Obama. If it does things are still up in the air, but at least we’ve got a chance. It’s a crashing the gate argument – we’re more likely to get what we want if this passes.
if the real argument is political then why refer to the economists or the economy at all?
as for the political argument, i just see no evidence that obama will give us anything for our support without us making any demands prior to giving that support. if there’s evidence of this, or any other evidence i’m missing please share, because i’m not seeing it.
Well, sure. I mean, we should be pushing from the left as we give support. If the Senate is hearing a lot of “this isn’t big enough” messages, well, they may be more willing to stand up to Limbaugh’s fanatics.
As for Obama promising us anything, no, he won’t. But again, this is a crashing the gate argument. We’re *more likely* to get what we want if Obama is powerful than if he’s handed a bunch of defeats and is weak. Withholding support from the left isn’t going to get us what we want either, as is becoming increasingly clear.
i don’t want “inside” i want decent policy and i’m happy to work inside or outside – it doesn’t matter to me.
but more importantly, from what i’ve seen so far, progressives have been taken completely for granted and that’s why the rightwingers get a seat at the negotiating table and we don’t.
I suggest you read Dday’s post which I linked to in my comment. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this as I respect your opinion.
will do… it will be a little later today though (will put a response here). thanks for the link.
I have a lot of difficulty believing that they are outnumbering us “100 to 1″! That sounds like pure, unadulterated bullshit from the Republican noise machine. Of course calls from people like me hardly matter, since I’m calling idiots like Kay Baily Hutchison and John Cornyn, neither of which are smart enough to work in the Senate Lunchroom, let alone the Floor.
Kay thinks we need to raise Pentagon funding, because that will increase hiring right away, building products we need. She just said so on the floor of the Senate. I’ll call her again and try to be nice, but I’ve had it with these obstructionist idiots! Coburn has said this Bill isn’t moving until all 15 of his Amendments have been given the consideration they deserve.
Thanks for posting this. I had not seen this until now. Jane and I had a dialogue in the comments this AM, pretty much on this point.