So, Obama made his big 2012 budget speech last Wednesday. I found it interesting that the speech was at 1:30 in the afternoon, as if to say "don't pay too much attention here"...makes me go: hmmm.
Now, I have been a pretty harsh Obama critic. I am not a right wing T-bagger, I criticize from the left. This president has not been on the progressive side of things. So I watched this speech with a hearty amount of skepticism, expecting a validation of multiple Republican talking points.
Imagine my pleasant surprise when President Obama came out breathing fire.
Now keep in mind that Obama is the master of giving a speech that makes people listening think he agrees with them. His White House will then release statements that move policy solidly right of the impression you got from listening to said speech. (Which, by the way, happened this time too!) I have learned give an Obama speech 24 hours to settle, and then you can decipher what was really said.
So, what's my verdict? All in all...an improvement. I still have huge concerns where this president is concerned, but here's what I liked...
First, the politics:
I loved that he waited. To use a poker analogy, this president usually sits at the table, gets his cards, shows them to everybody and then starts moving chip after chip onto the table. This time he sat at the table, held his cards close, anted with a speech while the House Republicans threw Ryan's entire Tea Party wet dream into the pot.
He waited until Senator Ryan put out his Destroy America plan to fix the deficit. That fucking turd of a bill that will destroy Medicare and Medicaid, and impoverish the working people for a generation, while giving many billions more to the top 2%. Now, (to change analogies) this is a giant softball, just floating over the plate, waiting to be crushed. Frankly, the kind this president has just watched float by in the past. But he crushed it instead.
He had heard rumors of the plan, and in the past, he has rushed out with pre-emptive "compromises." This time, he waited, waited...and swung. It was a hit. He was able to attack the plan without having already validated key parts of it (although he will do a little of that throughout the speech). This is what he should have been doing since before the health care debacle.
I also love that he got right down and talked some shit about the Republicans. He said that they were pessimistic, had no faith in America, and hated old people. Sure, I paraphrased, but this is the substance. It's the kind of shit they throw at him all the fucking time. It's about time he gave some back. They cried and whined "the speech was so political..." Yeah, no shit, the President's a politician, and it was high time he had at the opposition.
I also like that he made the case for government. He made it clear that some things, like caring for the elderly and the poor, or building airports and highways, were best done by a well-funded government. He pushed back against the privatization of Medicare that Paul Ryan is planning. (By the way, since the speech, EVERY Democrat voted against the Ryan plan. This is news. Six months ago, shit, six weeks ago at least half a dozen blue dogs would have joined Republicans. I like this too!)
The tone of the speech:
The tone of the speech was strong and progressive. The case that the President made was likewise strong and progressive. It was nice to hear a little of the old 2008 back. The President was definitely combative, but not ham-fisted about it like the Republicans are. He scolded them, sounding wise and reasonable while painting them as selfish children who want, through their greed and ignorance, want to harm their elders. Where has this been for the last two years?
The substance?...this is where I worry.
He said, clearly and unequivocally, that he would veto any privatization of Medicare. Good. He said that there would be no more renewal of the Bush tax cuts. Good. But he did say that Medicare and Medicaid would have to be cut. Oooh...not good. He also said that "nobody gets everything they want." Translation: "I'm open to future caving on these issues." Oooh... He also said that he would follow the recommendation of the Deficit Commission. Ah, fuck!
Obama was quite vague about the details in his speech. He left TONS of room for caving to the right. For instance, will his Medicare "cuts" come in the form of increased efficiency, or will he simply cut not as much as Paul Ryan? And the goddam Deficit Commission, those fuckers are there to steal, on average, $40-60,000 dollars from every working American's future, rather than raise the Social Security cap a little on those earning over $106,000 per year. Hell no!
Yet Obama loves that Deficit Commission, hell, he hand-picked it. That he is triumphing the likes of Alan Simpson, who called ALL of us "tit-suckers" for expecting the Social Security that we FUCKING PAID INTO OUR ENTIRE WORKING LIVES makes me cringe. And, within 24 hours, the White House released a statement saying that they were planning to follow the Deficit Commission. If Obama's great progressive fight is to champion the Deficit commission's plan to fuck the working and middle class of America, then it's over...we don't have a chance at left-of-Reagan governance anytime in our near future.
I'm not the only one worried. The likes of Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes were effervescent after the speech, full of descriptions of the President's brilliance, and full of scorn for anyone who couldn't see it. Yet Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont, was on MSNBC expressing a TON of skepticism over the speech. His general message: I'll believe it when I see it. Now, he was a little bitter, probably, because Obama just threw community health centers under the budget bus in his most recent cave-in to Republicans. Those health centers, you may remember, were his payment to Sanders to get his vote on the health care bill. Obama giveth, and Obama taketh away. But bitter or not, Sanders is undoubtedly progressive, and has dealt with the President, and he says the speech was full of pitfalls and possible compromises. And ultimately, on the substance of the speech, I agree with that assessment.
So, where do I stand? Not much farther from where I was. I'd still love to see a strong primary opponent for the President. The reality check for progressives is that although this speech sounded strong, it was Obama beginning campaign mode, which is his strongest suit. A primary challenge would make him lunge left in response, and that would only help with fights over policy in the next eight months or so. I don't doubt that this president has plenty of "cave" left in him.
Yet I have to say that I do like the new Obama tone with the Republicans. I like him standing his ground, and calling them out on policy. I like him saying they have no faith in America, and will harm our seniors. Those are messages that will resonate with huge chunks of the populace, and serve the progressive argument. I hope he keeps it up. I hope he keeps this new willingness to fight for a policy position.
Even if I don't like the reality of the coming policy, I like the new politics. Eh, I'll take it, until the primary.
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