Two More Years Report Card

So, what is the verdict on President Obama at near the midterm point?

If you follow my rantings, You know I am a skeptic.   I probably don’t give the President enough credit.  I fell, hook, line and sinker for the sales pitch of “change,” and haven’t gotten over it yet.

A rational assessment is that Obama is a blue dog for the most part.  He does not want to trample on convention.  He does not want to mess with the powerful people who are already in place.  He is definitely NOT progressive.  He is very timid where what I define as “change” is concerned.

To me, “change” meant actually changing the way things got done.  And maybe it was not possible for Obama to make these changes.  The forces marshaled against change are very strong and entrenched.  Too strong, perhaps, and too deeply entrenched for one president and his administration. 

But what I didn’t see was even an attempt.  I saw capitulation to the other side, immediately.

I didn’t see any fight.

Upon reflection, I wanted to see some fight.  I wanted to see principled stands by the powerful on behalf of average Americans.  And I didn’t. I saw deal-making on an epic scale, validation of right-wing talking points…I saw a Democratic president pay much more attention to Fox “News” than to polling, the base of the Democratic party, or the needs of the American people. 

The LAST administration paid attention to Faux News.  The last administration made sweetheart deals with corporate America.  Jesus, the last Administration let Billy Tauzin write their pharmaceutical legislation.  The last administration propagated uneccessary wars, spied on people, tortured people and allowed fraud at the highest levels of our nation’s financial institutions.  This is not my definition of “change.”

You could argue that the President DID changes some things, and that politics is a long game, and that you can’t change everything…  And I would say that what you say is true – to a degree.  But I would argue strongly that President Obama did not make the fundamental changes that are necessary.  I would further argue that he favored the rich and powerful over the poor and hard-working in almost every action he had his administration take.  He did not act based on principle, nor did he fight for the principles he DID articulate.

My midterm grade for President Obama, honestly, is a D+.  He did take on some tough issues, and was left a mess.  He took on health care, and he did some stimulus spending.  And, Lilly Leadbetter.  But he came up short is so many areas.  Here are my report card comments for improvement for the next two years:

1. Stop governing like a senator, and start acting like a President – Your deferral to the legislative process is admirable, from a civics standpoint, but they’re running all over you.  Use the bully pulpit to put pressure on Congress.  An idiot like Bush did this masterfully.  Was that the “change” you meant, to be less effective than Bush?
2. Hold the powerful accountable – I have ranted on this many times before, so I’ll keep it short.  You bowed to the bankers, they took our money, and then spit in your face.  Some of them, according to expert after expert, should be in jail for fraud.  The last administration broke serious laws, yet you won’t look “backward.”  The message is, that there’s no accountability for the powerful.  We lead the world in prison population, but the rich and well-connected are free to rampage over the land.  Have some weed?  Prison for you.  Ruin the pension funds of millions of workers through fraud?  Trillions in government cash, record bonuses, and the freedom to use our cash to buy the House for the Republicans.  How has looking forward worked out for us?
3. Stop reaching across the aisle! – When we voted for change, we didn’t vote for more “bipartisanship.”  We voted the Republicans out in ’06 and ’08 because they were a disaster, not because we wanted their ideas included in everything.  Fuck them!  Fight for us!
4. Fight! – I don’t mean picking petty arguments with the horrid personalities of Republicans, I mean take principled stands, based on Democratic values, and fight for them.  Call those fucking conservatives out.  Use your advantage: the largest microphone in the world!  When those assholes filibuster, call them out.  Point out how they always side with the rich, and with FOREIGN corporations against working Americans.  It’s not that hard.  And now, after the banks and the Chamber of Commerce have shown you the backs of their hands, what have you got to lose?  And yes, on some issues, I’d rather we go down fighting than get a few crumbs for capitulating. 

Jesus man, you had both housed in huge majorities, and you acted like you needed Republican permission for everything!  You created new math in American politics, and a new meme: that you can’t do anything without 60 votes.  That is so absurd that I lose it every time I hear it.  I am a goddam civics teacher.  NEVER before in American politics has 60 been the rule instead of the exception in the Senate.  It is only through weakness and political ineptitude that a president with vast majorities in both houses gets his ass handed to him so regularly.   Fight for your principles, and fight for us!

You, Mr. President, had your own party’s senators threaten to filibuster the most important legislation of your term – health care.  That they went unscathed, that you even threw union support and progressives under the bus to back one of them, Blanche Lincoln, in the primaries shows how out of touch with your own voters you have become in such a short time.  Lincoln and Nelson should have been called to the White House in good health, and left unable to sit down for a week.  By the way, what was the result of your Blanche Lincoln strategy?  She got hammered, you lost a seat, and look weaker and more inept.  You spent political capital against your own base, and lost.

I have accepted that President Obama is way, way to the right of me politically.  What I can’t yet figure out is if 2008 was a fluke, and he is truly inept at politics, or is he wholly corrupt, and bought lock, stock and barrel by corporate America the way so many senators are.  Since Feingold lost his seat, I’m not sure there’s one member of the US Senate that I would let care for my dogs, let alone spend the nation’s money.  And this sewer was the President’s political womb.

I fear it’s going to be a long two years.  I can only hope that the President can learn, and really does care at least a little for the plight of the average working family in America. 

Does he not get it?  Or does he get it, and believe we are too stupid to get that he has sold us out to corporate CEOs.  Sold out, or a President who is in over his head?  Either way, a low grade for our President.  Let's hope he can get his grades up in the final semester.