Monday, November 15, 2010

"What the fuck has Obama done so far?"

City SurpriseIf the title of this piece seems a bit out of character for me, well, you'd be right: it is. It's the reason why I put it in quotations. I'll come back to the title in a bit, but first I have a few observations I'd like to share:

Was it only me? It appears that President Obama and the Democrats were shocked that they didn't do better in the mid-term elections. We all know by now that the House lost so many seats to Republican and Tea Party candidates that the news media had to go back several decades to recall a similar drubbing delivered to a political party. And it didn't stop there: Democrats lost several seats in the Senate.

By all estimates, here was a political party and a president who had accomplished much--an extension of unemployment insurance for millions, a successful cash for clunkers program to keep our automobile industry from going under, "tax cuts for up to 3.5 million small businesses to help pay for employee health care coverage." But Democrats still lost heavily at the polls.

And what did they do in response?

Democrats did what the Republicans did when they lost miserably a few years back, right? Moved more in the direction of their ideological center, which for the Right is right, and the Left, left. I hate to break it to you: Democrats are doing no such thing--they're doubling down on their decision to hold fast to their failed tactic of appeasement, and compromise, with them as the only ones appeasing and compromising, as members of their base continue to flake away like so much old paint.

I won't belabor the point, and make you nauseous, by taking you back through the Left's misery brought on by watching Democrats cave again and again to Republicans to make their legislation as palatable to the Right's political taste buds as is humanly possible, hoping that Republicans will like the results enough to cast much-needed votes for passage, only to watch the Right spit out the mess they helped cook up, calling such legislation like health-care, and wall street reforms "vile," and "evil," promising to repeal the legislation, and replace it with their own confection, if anything at all.

Obama stated in essence that he and members of his party were so busy getting things done, that he and they didn't take time to properly inform the public of what it was that they had accomplished during the first two years of his administration.

Now, here is where the title of this blog entry comes in. That title is the name of an actual site. It's the site's URL. If you haven't seen it, here's a brief description: The site hopes to do what the president and the Democrat congress failed to do--beat the drum for the Democrats by enumerating their many accomplishments over the past two years.

On the site, I like the way the information is packaged. It's like being a visitor, a tourist, in a strange city out for a walk around town, not sure what you'll find, but excited about the possibility that just around a corner something interesting, something surprising, something unexpected, may leap out of the ordinary and the mundane, to give you something to remember and to talk about once you're back home, engaging the family, or a neighbor across a common fence or wall.

Here, take a walk through the town with the funny name, "What the fuck has Obama done so far?"

13 comments:

Ernesto said...

BD... Obama and the Democrats are still running scared, thanks to Thomas, Alito, Scalia, Roberts and Kennedy via the Citizens United case. They made it possible to hold a campaign fundraising gun to the head of every elected official in this country.

The demise of Alan Grayson and Russ Feingold are chilling reminders that the money guns are out to kill anyone who doesn't appease the Gods of War, Insurance, Finance and Fossil Fuels.

So you will likely see a further tilt to the right by all Democrats in the next two years. They are justifiably fearing for their political lives as long as the current campaign finance landscape remains unchanged, and we this country will have a higher poverty rate than Honduras before long.

Black Diaspora said...

@Ernesto: As usual Ernesto your analysis is spot on.

If the Dems don't find their courage before 2012, Obama may be a one-term president.

I've asked the question before: If liberals aren't given a choice between Repubs and their party of choice the Democrats, then, why vote for them at all?

Why go Repub-lite when you can have the real thing?

I was sorry to see Grayson go. He was unabashedly progressive, and fearless. Some say it was because he called his opponent a Taliban that sealed his fate, and kept him from being elected.

I doubt that.

Again, as you point out, the monied interest is shaping our politics. The gods of capitalism will fund only what's in there interest, and it's not progressivism.

Americans are being played like banjos, but the players have only one melody--get the government off our back so that we can continue to make our billions without interference.

Greg L said...

I'm not going to waste a lot of time and space here, because I can't really add much to what both of you have already said. Both of you have pretty much hit all of the issues.

I will add this however. Just because they won doesn't mean the end of the various bogeymen. As a matter of fact, this sort of thing will intensify because they still have to depose Obama in 2012. Moreover, the economic situation is quickly unraveling, so all the more reason to divert the attention of the people. What we're seeing here is the Nazi Germany playbook on propaganda led by the media.

Basically, I just get the feeling that we're screwed no matter what.

Greg L said...

Disregard this post. I forgot to check the box so I'll get followup comments.

Black Diaspora said...

@Greg L "Basically, I just get the feeling that we're screwed no matter what."

As long as the conditions that got us here continue to exist, then I concur: "we're screwed."

Those conditions haven't been addressed, and they won't be addressed for the reasons that Ernesto has stated.

On this and many other issues the American people appear to be asleep, or, as you would say, "diverted."

Hopefully they'll wake up in time to beat back the enemies in their midst--and, at the moment, it's not Muslims wanting to build mosques, nor people south of the border here to escape the poverty in their own country, a poverty that we helped to create over the many years we've been neighbors.

It's hard to see the truth when you're encouraged to view it through the optics of your prejudices, biases, bigotry, and fear.

Blinders Off said...

The title definitely catches your attention. I would have thought the title was out of character for you if I had not seen the creators of the website on MSNBC about a month ago :)

Republicans will like the results enough to cast much-needed votes for passage, only to watch the Right spit out the mess they helped cook up, calling such legislation like health-care, and wall street reforms "vile," and "evil," promising to repeal the legislation, and replace it with their own confection, if anything at all.

The Conservatives and Tea Party should feel used


BD,

The following is appropriate for my new blog...I plan to use it.


It's hard to see the truth when you're encouraged to view it through the optics of your prejudices, biases, bigotry, and fear.

My first post yielded action on one of the major issues I have with my city. I think they hope I will not publicly talk about, but I am once I get to the current administration. This issue in question is the reason why I started a new blog about the small Southern town I live in.

Black Diaspora said...

Again Blinders Off it this me-first mindset which Republicans have mastered so well--more interested in defeating Obama in 2012 than in actually doing anything meaningful or constructive for the American people, except for themselves.

"If I have mine," they seem to say, "then that's all that matters."

I'm glad you like the statement. I'll look for it at your new blog.

Regarding your new blog. Have I ever told you that you're my hero?

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Kathy said...

Thanks for this, I posted the link on facebook back when you posted this:)

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