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OK, it’s pretty obvious by now that Obama, Plouffe, Axelrod, Jarrett, Sperling, and the rest of the Keystone Kops are scared shitless.
Even the ‘bots can’t justify the latest screw up.
The latest “pivot” to a jobs focus should have been a boon to a more progressive fight (ha!) from the White House. A mortgage relief program, a direct works program, or other popular ideas could have been the core of the bill.
But we know better.
This will just be another excuse for Mr. Eleventy-Dimensional Chess to beg Republicans for more tax cuts, more deficit reduction, and more deregulation.
But let’s be optimistic: let’s say Zero comes to his senses and realizes that he should sell a more progressive agenda. Let’s say that progressives use this latest pressure to get him to say the right things.
What could we expect?
We can expect a bait and switch, of course.
We would still have an Executive Branch run by stooges of the Chamber of Commerce, and a Democratic Congress run by stooges of the Third Way and the Koch brothers. Don’t even get me started on the Supreme Court.
Only under this scenario, Obama would be completely free from the threat of re-election & pleasing his base; lack of votes and support are the only thing giving what little imagined leverage progressives have now.
But…
We can expect the wars to continue.
We can expect the persecution to continue.
We can expect the tone deafness to get worse.
We can expect more bailouts.
We can expect more sellouts.
And we can expect the full on frontal assault on progressives, the old, the young, the infirmed, the working poor, the non-working poor, and the environment to continue apace with even more unbridled fury, with no functional counterpoint to speak of in our government.
Can we seriously expect anything else?
At this point, battered and broken, progressives will either have two options:
1. Collapse, and indefinitely be treated like rats among our body politic.
or
2. Be reborn in some other form that will grow into a new movement over the course of years, maybe decades.
Either way, win or lose, the Age of Obama will likely get worse, not better, despite the outcome of this dog of a new “jobs” bill, or the 2012 election.
The powers that be have already determined the outcome, and it will not be pretty.
The only question is how we react to the onslaught.
The choice is yours.
34 Comments
Nobody cares. Are you kidding us? Fuck Obama. Write about something that matters.
I agree
Indeed it may be time to re-register as an independent so as to vote in the GOP primary so that Obama’s replacement is more Huntsman than Perry.
Does not look like they will allow a Democratic primary – and 4 more years of Obama pushing GOP “solutions” and using “racism” and party loyalty and group loyalty to stop Democratic opposition will end the safety net in this country – as well as ending the class war of the rich on the middle class with a total victory by the rich.
The diary author’s allusions are many.
As to votes, it’s insane to cast one for DIM or GOP.
As to loss of income, jobs, housing, shelter, n food and medical care?
Many will likely be held there, and many will likely be pissed abouit it.
We are this close to being there.
I won’t suffer the phools gladly when we have no jobs and can’t pay rent.
It’s just a shot away . . . as Mic once crooned.
The masses WILL rise.
N I pity the phools.
Strategically speaking, or is it tactically, Obama has no space to move to the left. On anything. He and his minions have completely discredited anything progressive and couldn’t, at this point, take up any of the policies and programs they so thoroughly, emphatically, repudiated. And given Obama’s rigidity, he’s as rigid and delusional as Bush, well, how likely is a lights-on moment?
I care. The author posed an open-ended question as to what to do about Obama. While you gave us an emotional answer, sufficient for yourself, others are looking for a more thoughtful reply.
I agree that moving Obama in a progressive direction is surely a lost cause. However, I believe actions should still be undertaken that would exert political pressure on him, anyway. Unfortunately, it’s too late for such actions to result in him responding positively, but it’s NEVER TOO LATE TO ENGAGE IN TEACHING AND ORGANIZING ACTIVITIES.
Teaching and organizing were 2 of the main purposes behind jeffroby’s Full Court Press plan. Lacking it’s revival, it’s still not to late to implement Operation Expose Obama, which I had argued, about a year ago, should precede the Full Court Press.
In a nutshell, expose Obama (and furthermore, the entire Democratic Party leadership, as well as the Republican Party leadership), e.g., by letting American’s know about Hugh’s Obama Scandal List. One scandal which also needs to be talked about is Obama as the Dog that Didn’t Bark with regards to ALEC.
Basically, we should degrade the brands of Obama, the Dems, and the Repubs, via educating the public about their shenanigans. If people aren’t motivated enough to organize to resist fascist and plutocratic agents and lackeys, then you and I, as well as the rest of the public that is more aware, haven’t done our jobs.
Alas, blogs such as FDL are great for keeping the cognoscenti aware, but essentially insignificant as activist platforms that educate the public. I’ve made many suggestions for how to go beyond blogging to the choir, but none of them seems to get picked up.
I’m happy to report that, via messages with Meteor Blades at dailykos, before he left, recently, he told me that he was following my writings. Whether that will lead to dailykos evolving into a more effective activist and teaching platform, remains to be seen. It’s still not crystal clear to me that anybody in the management of DailyKos, FDL, or Docudharma sees clearly the futility of “blogging to the choir” (though likely Meteor Blades does).
In a nutshell, expose Obama (and furthermore, the entire Democratic Party leadership, as well as the Republican Party leadership), e.g., by letting American’s know about Hugh’s Obama Scandal List.
should be
In a nutshell, expose Obama (and furthermore, the entire Democratic Party leadership, as well as the Republican Party leadership), e.g., by letting American’s know about Hugh’s Obama Scandal List and his Bush Scandal List, as well as ALEC.
I wonder if Dr.Martin Luther King thought like this or ever worried about being shot for standing all for the people not the so called “owners”.
“Even the ‘bots can’t justify the latest screw up.”
And it’s even a repeat. Obama capitulating to Boehner? Is this a repeat of last month?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/01/eveningnews/main20086598.shtml
Boehner looked so happy he could cry…
And yes, it is a repeat, and will continue to repeat no matter what.
I think this fact is slowly starting to dawn on people; what makes me nervous is how will they react to that realization?
To me the, solution is obvious; but to many, that obvious solution is currently a non-starter.
That’s a good question. Maybe he felt a sense of fate with what he was doing. His goals probably seemed even more daunting than the ones we face now.
Exactly. It’s funny, b/c Zero made a similar argument during health care reform: If Republicans call him Hitler & a socialist, there is no way for the two sides to compromise, because who wants to compromise with Hitler? The same applies to compromising with “sanctimonious retards.”
But my point was taking an optimistic scenario (Obama moving leftward) and realistically assessing the outcome.
Good point about his rigidity being on par with Bush; the reason I supported him back then was not because he was a progressive, but because he seemed intelligent enough to admit when he made a mistake, and correct it.
Boy was I wrong on that one…
The masses will rise, but will the revolution be televised?
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/08/23/invisible-town-hall-revolution-gets-bigger-and-bigger/
I think the Dem presidential primaries are waste until 2016. Obama has been anointed, and we should save our precious few resources for a battle that’s easier to win.
For now, I think we should primary Blue Dogs and New Dems in the senate and house. I was thinking about changing affiliation to Dem just so I could do so, but vote 3rd party in the general.
um, ok
You hit the nail on the head again, meta.
This is about organizing and getting people’s butts moving. It’s starting to work, but it’s slow.
Case in point: a number of months ago, if you went to dkos and saw FDL mentioned, the comments weren’t too favorable about this site. The opposite would happen with comments about Obama. Nowadays when FDL is mentioned, a surprising number of people will jump to FDL & Jane’s defense. Meanwhile, Obama gets routinely criticized. Amazing, huh?
It’s not where we need to go, but it’s progress. People are starting to get the message. It’s working, albeit slowly.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
(I think we’re in the middle of phase 3)
Disheartening, isn’t it. I did my homework during the campaign–to that point I hadn’t paid much attention to him and he seemed to me to be Who is this guy and why is he qualified? when he rocketed into the primary–and I already knew he wasn’t all that. His eight undistinguished years in the Illinois Senate made that point unmistakably clear. But I never dreamed he’d be this bad. I figured status quo with a little decorative stitching around the edges. Mostly as rhetorical flourishes, not much real action. Mediocre conventionalist, (much?) overrated intelligence. I really did not expect him to whirl around and march determinedly to the rear. You can say pushed or pulled or whatever excuse suits your emotional attachment, but the man about faced and marched to the rear of his own volition. I didn’t expect that.
He is not a Democrat and he has many allies in that not-ism among the nominal Democrats in Congress. He’s not really a Republican, either. Obama is about Obama. He has compulsions he’s not aware of and they propel him into self-defeating behaviors that betray the office and the constituencies he was elected to serve. He is disdainful, contemptuous, actually, of people he’s sure of and obsequiously anxious to please people he’s not sure of or who don’t like him. Hardly grown-up. He assiduously, ardently plays to a notoriously fickle Village audience because they demand it and can turn in a heartbeat, and he knows it; he steps all over his loyal base because they unconditionally adore him. A hugely flawed character and unlike some other hugely flawed characters, Lyndon Johnson comes to mind, not useful. Politicians are either useful or not useful. I believe this one is malign.
Yes, I never understood the big deal about the guy. I saw his infamous 2004 speech at the convention and thought it was garbage.
All he said was we shouldn’t be racist assholes who bomb random countries for no reason. This should be bottom of the basement logic, but was greeted as profundity. The whole thing was dumb.
I always imagined he would screw up, but my hope was that at that fateful moment, he would choose to either stay the course, or adapt and do the right thing. He failed that test miserably, and fell into the same trap Dubya did.
I do disagree with him not being a Democrat. He IS a Democrat, through and true. The post-Clinton Democratic party bears no similarities with the party of FDR.
The problem is that true liberal Democrats aren’t really Democrats. Most of them are practically Greens, if you actually look at what they believe in. That’s why no one treats them with respect, even within their own caucuses & party structure. Just look at that link above about what is going on in Iowa.
Not to mention the Progressive Caucus in California.
Yes, there is progress. It’s almost shocking what you can read at dailykos. I’ve long self-censored there, figuring that it’s easy to get banned, but I still wanted occasional writing privileges.
I’m not sure what to make of it, but the AFL-CIO has moved in a positive direction, lately, saying many of the things that I have said. And PCCC recently made a credible political threat to Obama.
However, as you mention, things are still moving too slowly. I sincerely hope that the Tea Parties embrace mass mobilization and education techniques, but quickly. IMO, their electoral aggressiveness has already elicited a stronger activist response from progressives, of late. More of the same would do progressives, and the rest of the country, some good. Fear of loss is a powerful motivator. Not the most spiritual motivator, but powerful, nonetheless.
Another positive note (I think): Gary Null and the Progressive Radio Network is going to start creating a worldwide people’s movement, whose initial project is getting rid of nuclear power plants, and whose initial goal is shutting down Indian Point. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what plans exist to leverage such a movement to interfere with the elctoral process. Leaving the current corrupt Dems and Repubs in their gatekeeping positions of power would predispose such a movement to failure. However, I’m pretty sure the effort will involve mass education efforts. Mass education is a much shorter step away from effective electoral activism than “blogging to the choir”.
I glanced at the Iowa link and I’m familiar with the CA Progressive Caucus uproar. The establishment doesn’t like to be defied. Boo hoo and tough luck. Being establishment by definition removes you from the common lot. They’ll just have to get over themselves.
But don’t expect anything else from the entrenched and anointed, their place of privilege is being challenged. Oh, god, my pearls just went all over the floor!
I should have added: does this mean we’re getting their undivided attention?
I’ve been thinking about voting in the GOP primary as well, now that I am an independent. Let’s face it, Mitt Romney is better than Rick Perry, if we have to choose one or the other.
It looks like we are getting their attention period. If anything, it’s a significant first step. The begininning of many…
What about Ron Paul? He’s the only one who would stop the wars, close the overseas military bases, stop the War on Drugs (a racist war against the poor), stop treaties like NAFTA, stop the Patriot Act, and stop the handouts to the banks. All the rest of the Republicans agree with Obama on all of these issues.
Ron Paul is no more horrible on domestic policies than Obama and the rest of the Repubs.
Either Obama will win, or a Republican will win; either way, we are going to suffer big time. But if the Republican who wins is Ron Paul, at least our bombs and drones will stop killing people all over the world. That would be good enough for me.
“He’s the only one who would stop the wars, close the overseas military bases, stop the War on Drugs (a racist war against the poor), stop treaties like NAFTA, stop the Patriot Act, and stop the handouts to the banks.”
Didn’t they say all this crap about Obama in 2008?
The difference is that Ron Paul has a record of actually voting against all these things during his long history in Congress.
The reason that Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, and Bernie Sanders all like Paul is that he is actually honest and consistent in his beliefs and actions.
That is also why the corporations fear him, and why Paul is getting no corporate donations, and is being carefully marginalized by the media.
(But don’t get me wrong–most of his domestic policies are just as bad as those of Obama and the rest of the Republicans.)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/04/28/is-ron-paul-more-progressive-than-obama/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/24/in-praise-of-ron-paul/
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/black-democrats-go-israel-ron-paul-puts-democrats-shame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8S8N2OG7sU – Ron Paul on ending the War on Drugs
Ron Paul and Ralph Nader — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwIZ4syCFLc
Ralph Nader on the new political dynamic of an alliance between Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul on cutting the military budget and corporate welfare –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE4-nmR3fiM
You’re right. Ron Paul may be the answer, just to end the wars!
Obama had voting records against those things as well. That’s why people voted for him.
For that matter, do you remember the Gore campaign? He practically disavowed his ties to the environmental movement because Donna Brazile and their DLC masters told him to.
I don’t see why Paul would be any different.
A note to Jest at 9:07: Obama’s voting record is not why people voted for him, since his voting record was so short. Most (myself included) voted for him based on hope. There were people who actually examined his voting record and his prior stands, and as a result, they DIDN’T vote for him.
Just because Obama and Gore are unprincipled does not mean that Paul is, too. Of course, the problem with Ron Paul is that many of his principles on domestic policy are horrible, but we are in a lose-lose situation on domestic policy, anyway, since the Republican candidate and Obama will be on the same page domestically.
The best we can achieve through strategically voting in the Republican primary for Ron Paul is that if Ron Paul is the principled person that he has been conceded to be for decades, that would mean he would really do what he has said he would do, and end all the wars and imperialism.
Admittedly, Paul could sell out like Obama. But with Paul, there is a chance to end the wars, and with every other candidate, we know from the outset that there is no chance at all.
I agree Robert! Let’s talk about what progressives can do to start an effective movement.
I think the only things to do at this point are:
1. Insist on calling this a Depression because it is.
2. Keep pounding out the narrative of a true Keynesian response to this crisis, i.e. a stimulus focused on titanic infrastructure improvements with a sum greater than the output gap in the economy.
3. Put all efforts (monetarily, legally, politically, oratorically) towards furthering the litigation against the banks for the truly unheard of level of fraud they’ve committed. I wouldn’t even bother with 3rd parties or pushing any other issues. The banks’ day of reckoning is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Take them out and the entire enterprise of corporate ownership of our democracy is destroyed. I’m sure there are lawyers as members of this site. Draft them to aid some of these homeowners and keep building up the precedents that will ultimately bring the bankster criminal nexus down.
Oblablabla = Ocoma
Just don’t vote for him!!
It’s not really that difficult. In fact, it is liberating.
Find a 3rd party on your ballot and give it some love.
Just stop enabling him and the rest of them. If you have a liberal you can vote for do it.
You can’t stop him from selling you out but you can stop yourself from selling yourself out.
Own your vote. Remember the real tea party “no taxation without representation”. If Obama and the Democrats refuse to represent YOU withhold your vote.
The Obama Administration will be destroyed. Resistance is futile.
Either Obama will lose his re-election bid, and the current political and economic system will collapse anyway because it does not work, or he will win re-election, and the current political and economic system will collapse because it does not work.
Interesting times are coming. And there is nothing you, or I, or Robert A. Dumas, can do to stop them.
I think I’ll have a martini now.
WOW, you’re Right, I’ve had an EPIPHANY!
Moron.
There are now the 4% that comprise the Plutocracy, and then there are the rest of us.
Whose side are you on?
This is all just divide and conquer NONSENSE!
Wake the Fuck Up!