The Window is Closing, and Fast

The missed opportunity here (0.00 / 0)

was the failure of the president to capture the moral insurgency that was welling up in our country.  Missed opportunities (just to name a few):

Health care reform (real reform that would fix Medicare/Medicaid)
Close Guantanamo
End Iraq
Environmental legislation
Labor-friendly legislation
Reinforce Social Security
Banking regulations with teeth
A Fed Chair who understands that the biggest crisis we face is from structural unemployment, not 0.1% CPI.

The president has surrounded himself with consummate deal makers who are operating in a vacuum.  There is no deal to be had on any of these agenda items that are worth having.  Obama could have taken a page out of FDR's book and appealed to the people.  FDR used moral and nationalistic language to frame the New Deal policies as patriotic, thwarting the attempts of corporatists and the elite to undermine the grand new society that FDR envisioned.

Obama has that potential, yet he chooses to be overly-cautious.  Reagan had no problems using populism and nationalism to build public support for breaking down New Deal policies - Reagan single-handedly transformed the illegal act of union-busting into an act of patriotism.  Labor has never recovered, no matter how hard they have worked to elect Dems.  I spoke to a very involved union member last week who told me he was going to abandon the Dem party.

Internal divisions have all but eliminated the capacity to build a comprehensive Dem strategy.  The Republicans are the aggressors, and they deserve credit for sensing weakness and seizing the debate.  Political momentum is fickle, and predictions are difficult to make, especially about the future, but it appears that the wheels have fallen off the Obama express.

It is almost a certainty at this point that some degree of the SS system will be privatized in the next few years.  A 41 - 59 GOP majority, indeed.

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by: j cicirelli @ Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 08:08:51 AM CST

Let me just note again that conservatives consider (0.00 / 0)

depressing the vote to be a staple on their menu.  They indulge in it every day.  Intimidation and discouragement are two of their indispensable tools  and the press shares their interest because predicting the future is easier when things stay the same.

That said, Democrats are unwitting participants in the con that is now known as bipartisanship--where one party gives the order to jump and the other party asks "how high?" The reason Democrats keep falling into this con is simple.  When faced with the option between doing what the other side wants and doing nothing at all, DOERS are likely to go with the former.

The alternative is to leave the obstructionists behind.

Victory is Mine 'cause I told Satan to get thee behind.

More on topic at
http://hannah.smith-family.com...

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by: hannah @ Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 09:37:52 AM CST

Jon Stewart swoons over Elizabeth Warren (0.00 / 0)

http://www.thedailyshow.com/wa...

TARP in layman terms.

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 13:25:31 PM CST

Money Quote: (4.00 / 2)

"It is simple. This is America's middle class. We've hacked at it and chipped at it and pulled on it for 30 years now. And now there's no more to do. Either we fix this problem going forward or the game really is over."

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 13:33:57 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I agree, Dean (4.00 / 1)

It's time to pass the Senate bill, and make changes afterwards. There are no other morally or politically plausible options.

If we can get 60/60 Democratic votes for reform in the Senate, we should be able to convince 218 of 256 House Democrats to support the bill.  Not only should we be able to pass the bill without Republican obstructionists, but we can do it without Blue Dogs, too.

No more whining.  No more excuses.  We may not have another opportunity like this for decades.  The time has passed for making the perfect the enemy of the very good.  Get 'er done.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 06:42:28 AM CST