So there was Obama Inc., ready for their New Deal moment in American history. . . and they let it slip away. No, that is too kind, they got behind it and pushed it off a cliff. Think not? Let me cite a few examples to make my case.
First, all presidents get a fair amount of political capital to spend in their so-called "Honey Moon Period." But in a time of great crisis, the Honey Moon can lead to monumental opportunities. Franklin Roosevelt, in his "First Hundred Days,"created the modern welfare state and built a regulatory system that would be in place for America's greatest period of economic growth. Using his New Deal majorities in both houses of Congress, he changed America's domestic economic landscape with lightening speed. As the New Deal express pulled out of the station, FDR did not give a damn if any Republicans got out of the way, let alone if any got on board.
What about President Obama. Instead of using his moment to restructure our national economy and give hope to those who were crushed by thirty years of tax breaks for the wealthy, or rein-in the greed mongers on Wall Street, Obama decided for the photo-op of reaching out to Republicans to try and build a new consensus. And how did that work out? Does anyone believe that President Obama is appreciated and respected by the party of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner? If anything they hate him more now than they did in '08.
Secondly, the time to initiate monumental healthcare reform was not while the American economy was deep in the throes of the second worse recession in our country's history. What we needed in 2009 was a massive economic stimulus tied to the creation of millions of new jobs. As much as we need fundamental healthcare reform, the vast majority of American voters were perfectly happy with the healthcare benefits they were receiving at the time. Instead, they were reeling with the looming prospect of being out of work and losing their family homes (as millions eventually did). Had Barack Obama led with a call for a second New Deal to rescue America's middle class, the Democrats would still control all of the Congress and the "Tea Party" would only reference an event in Boston Harbor in 1773. The President used most of his political capital on a half-baked healthcare reform act and what was left on a luke warm economic stimulus. With the exception of the auto industry, most of the Obama stimulus came in the form of tax relief and extended unemployment compensation. Meanwhile we now have over thirteen million Americans still out of work, and about five million being foreclosed on and tossed out of their homes. And what is the mantra of the Democrats going to be in 2012. . . yeah the economy still sucks, but it would be sucking a hell of a lot more if we weren't in office! Anyone want to run on that slogan?
Like it or not, American presidential politics is about solving crisis level problems now, not fixing things that will be broken down the road. I have no doubt that we will all be enrolled in a single-payer universal healthcare program in the not to distant future, there is no way to avoid this. But right now, if you are over 65, in the military, or have a job with medical benefits (as are most American voters) the pre-Obama healthcare system was working just fine. And any reasonably smart sixth grader knows it is foolish to repair something that is not yet broken. On the other hand, we now have more people out of work for a year or more than any other time in our history, including the during Great Depression, and nothing has been done for them. Further, we repaired and re-financed Wall Street and the major banks to the point where they paid out all time record bonuses in 2010, and yet there is no end in sight to the mortgage foreclosure crisis. The Republican Party was all but finished and the Obama administration brought it back to life.
Third, the foreign policy agenda of George W. Bush has not only been continued, but enhanced. Guantanamo is still open and functioning. Ten years in and there are more Americans in Afghanistan than there were in 2008 with no end in sight. And last week President Obama signed an extension of the Darth Vader Dick Cheney inspired Patriot Act so more Americans can be spied on by the NSA. Where oh where is there a semblance of the progressive foreign policy that Obama campaigned on in 2008? Remember how he chided Hillary about her vote to go to war in Iraq? Do you really think that President Obama represents a new way forward on the world stage?
So why, I ask again, should anyone who voted for President Obama in November of 2008, be foolish enough to vote for him again? Surely if there were any real progressives on the horizon, I would be supporting someone else. Unfortunately, the only alternatives to President Obama are so much worse than he could ever be, he is guaranteed to have my vote again. I mean come on, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich? Next to that fools' parade President Obama is the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln. The collective economic policy of those clowns is to completely deregulate private industry, you know, like in the run-up to the 2008 recession. And my favorite, they all want us to refuse to raise the debt ceiling and default on Americas bond obligations, something we have not done all the way back to 1789. Oh yeah, they want more substantial tax cuts for the richest among us, an end to a federal minimum wage and unemployment insurance, all because those poor billionaires are barely making ends meet and the rest of us should bask in the glow of their opulence. Any of you get Christmas cards from a Wall Street Banker?
Winston Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others. And President Obama may be a less than enthusiastic choice for president. . . until you look at the available alternatives, yikes! Now let me see, where did I put my "Change We Can Believe In" button? I know it is around here somewhere.
