A friend whom I’ll call David raised a ton of money for Democrats in 2008 and now tells me they can go to hell. He’s furious about the no-strings bailout of Wall Street, the absence of a public option in health reform, financial reform that doesn’t cap the size of banks or reinstate the Glass-Steagall wall between investment and commercial banking, and a stimulus that was too small to do much good but big enough to give Republicans a campaign issue. He’s also upset about tens of thousands of additional troops being sent to Afghanistan, a watered-down cap-and-trade bill that’s going nowhere, and no Employee Free Choice Act. David won’t raise a penny this fall and doubts he’ll even vote. “I busted my chops getting them elected, and they caved,” he fumes. “They’re all lily-livered wimps, and Obama has the backbone of a worm.”Reich goes on the analyze why the liberal Democratic base is unable to hold its leaders' feet to the fire while the conservative Republican base is very successful in ensuring that their leaders carry through on their election mandate. It is an eye-opener. Read the whole post!
As Reich points out, Obama has not delivered and the situation of most Americans is actually worse now than when Obama was elected while the ultra-rich have recovered their losses and are even better off:
Average Americans are hurting. But their pain isn’t coming from government. It’s coming from an economy whose benefits are concentrating ever more at the top, whose giant corporations are controlling ever more of our democratic process, and whose costs and risks are becoming ever more burdensome for the middle class and the poor. Public schools, parks, and libraries are closing or reducing hours and staff. Median hourly wages are dropping. Unemployment is at levels not seen in decades; long-term joblessness hasn’t been this bad since the 1940s. Social safety nets — unemployment insurance, Social Security, and Medicare — are endangered.I just can't believe that many traditional Democrats will find the enthusiasm to go to the polls this November. I foresee a sea change swing to the right giving power to fanatical, crazed, ideological, dangerous Republicans. It appears as if the United States is a political system that is determined to lurch, sway, and shake itself until it comes completely unhinged. This is horrifying from my perspective.
Yet corporate profits are reaching unprecedented levels, and the richest Americans — CEOs, other top corporate executives, investment bankers, and hedge-fund managers — are raking in as much or more than before the Great Recession.
RY,
ReplyDeleteAs a far lefty, I can only say I am disappointed but I know the present President of the US is doing what he thinks is best for the future, most Presidents do.
However when I think of who would be chairing committees in the legislature, I get stirred up again.
I may not be thrilled with the present folks in control but I sure can't stand the alternatives.
So, who knows but "my fellow 'Murcans" scare me. So, you could be right "sea change swing to the right giving power to fanatical, crazed, ideological, dangerous Republicans."
I hope we are both wrong.
Kanna: I find Paul Krugman to be the most insightful analyst. He's a Nobel prize winning economist, not a journalist, but he has a level of intelligence and honesty that is missing in the rest of the media. Here's Krugman's assessment of key political players:
ReplyDeleteLong ago — basically when I started writing for the Times — I decided that I would judge the character of politicians by what they say about policy, not how they come across in person. This led me to conclude that George W. Bush was dishonest and dangerous back when everyone was talking about how charming and reasonable he was. It led me to conclude that Colin Powell couldn’t be trusted, back when everyone said his UN speech clinched the case for war. It led me to conclude that John McCain was unprincipled and self-centered, back when everyone said he was a deeply principled maverick. And yes, it led me to conclude that Barack Obama was a good man, but far less progressive than his enthusiastic supporters imagined.
What a novel concept: judge the book by the contents, not the cover. This key insight puts Krugman at the head of the class. And it says volumes about the poor quality journalism and incestuous relationships between media and politicians.
I grant that Obama has done some good things and is head and shoulders above the cynical and corrupt Bush. But the need for a great statesman is crying out and Obama has fallen so far short of the mark that it distresses. Obama had roused the US in his candidacy for presidency then flubbed when the baton was passed to him. Clinton nailed the presidency's key task as "jobs, jobs, jobs" but Obama thought it was glad handing Republicans, holding endless pow-wows, "reaching out" to his opponents, and twiddling his thumbs while waiting for a 535 member institution to catch fire and "lead" the country! Tragic.
I remember telling a waitress in late September 2008 that the failure of Congress to act on the bank panic was going to affect her because the economy was going to nosedive and little businesses wouldn't be able to get credit. Clearly she didn't believe me.
Today I look at all the warnings from Krugman that the US is heading into deflationary times and a lost decade like Japan, and apparantly nobody is listening. I echo Krugman. But it is like sticking you head in a bucket and shouting "Fire!!!". Sure I raise a ruckus, but the ringing is only in my ears. Nobody else is paying any attention.
I care about the US for two reasons: (1) I don't want to see anybody suffer unnecessarily. (2) Canada gets sucked into the vortex created by the US so when you go down, we go down too irregardless of how careful and solid our banking system has been, how prudent the finances of our federal government, and now much we spend to stimulate our economy. You don't stimulate yours, and there goes 30% of our economy! You go into a deflationary spiral and we get sucked along!
Americans ignore Canada as that funny bit of land up north, a land of ice and snow. But Canada can't ignore the US because over a third of our economy is trade with the US. Even your crazy politics poison the well up here. The Conservative Party which started as a socially moderate but fiscally conservative party keeps edging toward the insane political "style" of American politics. We don't have a "Presidential system" but being an alpha dog is very seductive to party leaders in Canada, they are all Presidential wanna-bes. They want a jumbo jet, they want a bevy of 20 armoured cars, they want to be surrounded by hundreds of Secret Service guardians, and they want the sense of entitlement and power that the US President gets. This has and is corrupting politics in Canada.