The scariest thing about Obama is the fact there is no Democratic Party core in his politics; it's all Hallmark platitudes obscuring the fact he is a neoliberal more than the despised Joe Lieberman EVER was.
What a load! First off, how can the center possibly be located to the right of center? I know geometry and politics, and this is genuinely nonsensical in either field. From what I can discern from the outcome of the vote, however, after the kind of election that was run and the positions espoused by both the winning and losing campaigns, it seems as we have moved the "center" considerably leftward, toward enhanced social programs and social justice, sensible income redistribution, much heavier-handed regulation of the business community, greater protectionism, and diplomatic rather than military solutions to international conflicts. We as a people are tired of the rich eating all of our lunches and sending us to wars without end.
For another thing, they will try as hard as they can to bring us down whatever course we chart, and however foolishly we may try to accommodate their wishes. When have the Republicans EVER done otherwise? It's just what they do. It's pointless to try to make them like us or even work with us. They are treacherous. The meetings they've been having have nothing whatsoever to do with any "soul searching," as the press has reported, but instead have been to plot a strategy to obstruct any progressive programs and try to bring down Barack Obama like they tried to bring down Bill Clinton. Any compromise or conciliatory gestures we might offer will only be used against us to the maximum extent they can figure out how to do. Whenever we give them an inch, they will grasp for a mile. Whenever we offer them a bone, they will take it and try to strike us about the head and body with it.
Look at how they have reacted to the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Obama's Chief of Staff. Somebody needs to inform John Boehner about the actual meaning of the word "ironic." It is quite ironic that he would complain about the appointment of a partisan to this post, as archly partisan as he has always been and has always advocated for his own party.
The first move I would suggest in the Senate is to restore the OLD filibuster rule, the one where you actually had to hold the floor by making uninterrupted speeches in order to mount a filibuster. Under the current 60-vote rule, we could never have passed the voting rights and civil rights legislation of the 1960s, and Medicare would never have become law. This country needs changes now that render the current filibuster rule not just inconvenient, but actually dangerous in the extreme.
I hope that Obama and our congressional leadership understand that the voters overwhelmingly DEMAND change now, and if we do not deliver we will be assailed as weak. Even McCain ran on the "change" theme, as absurd as that might seem to any reasonable observer. If we are too conciliatory with the outgoing old guard, if we compromise our agenda to accommodate their wishes in our namby-pamby quest to achieve some ridiculous "Spirit of Unity," it will be a BETRAYAL of the American electorate that has spoken with the clearest voice it has mounted for many, many years.
To those who advocate that we offer to our adversaries the friendly hand of bipartisanship, try to get this through your thick skulls: Bipartisanship is NOT what our adversaries seek except as a ruse. They wish to consolidate their gains of the past quarter-century and will only extend their hand when the other is hidden behind their backs with crossed fingers at best, or concealing a weapon with which to worst us in most cases. If you think Republicans are to be trusted, look back over the past eight years (no, eleven years, starting with their weird impeachment efforts) and think again.
The people have given us power for the purpose of using it on their behalf. We must not be turned aside.
Obama, I am afraid, was the wrong candidate to attain the goals the voters want. I hope I am wrong and would work like hell to get him re-elected in 2012. But as things currently stand, I have serious doubts.
No comments:
Post a Comment