It was basically a treatise on Obama's failure to effectively deal with the financial disaster of 2008, and how that will fuck him in 2012. Great...now I have to spout off again.
No, seriously, I had inwardly vowed to move on; to not make this blog (who maybe one other person but me reads) an Obama-bashing rag-made-of-electrons devoted to criticizing the President. Sometimes I feel like it verges on obsession. But I keep getting pulled back in.
One point that Rich makes in his article, the one that spurred me to vent yet again, is that Obama could very likely lose to the clown that comes out of the Republican primary car. DC Democrats think, still, that this is impossible. They are wrong. And I agree with much of what is in Rich's Article, but think that the situation is even worse than he is saying.
I see Obama as a massive underdog at this point. There are several key things working against him, and the question remains: why? Is he just unlucky? Is he just not that good at politics? Is he just not that smart? Or, is he corrupted by the system, and part of a snow-job that is no longer blinding the American people?
Obama has these factors working against him, many of which I have railed against in previous posts. These are the main five reasons why Obama will lose the 2012 election. I will flesh each one out after the list:
1. The myth of bipartisanship
2. Ham-fisted duplicity
3. Looking Forward
4. Jobs, goddammit, jobs!
5. Adopting the views of the opposition
The myth of bipartisanship
The President is oft heard saying that the American people are tired of the rancor of Washington, and want their leaders to compromise and get things done. And polls show, that if you phrase it that way, that we Americans are generally in favor of that sentiment.
But we're not idiots. We see how "compromise" Obama-style is being used. It is an excuse to sell out to corporate interests. Compromise by Obama has an official definition:
- comp-ro-mise (verb); caving in to your opponents views at least 90% of the way, making sure that no CEO loses a nickel but probably screwing the average American. Hiding a massive sellout to corporate interests under the guise of "getting things done," then shrugging shoulders and saying "what else could we do?"
Many of us on the "left" do not want this much compromise. We expect a fight over the big issues. And we expect that in these fights, our side actually throws some punches. I have watched winning issue after issue flow by this President un-fought. Public option, unemployment, tax cuts for the rich, Medicare (now "on the table") and Social Security, the DREAM Act and others. These are issues that not only affect the well-being of working Americans, but could be used to beat the shit out of the Republicans. These issues could move the spectrum left for a change.
And that seems to be the point. This President seems to be working as hard as the Republican leadership to consolidate the massive corporate gains made during the last 40 years. By not fighting on issues of economic justice, he makes it clear which side he's on. We see it, and it will hurt him in 2012.
Ham-fisted duplicity
All politicians lie. I get pissed by the hypocrisy, but I don't get surprised. For instance, when Anthony Wiener was caught lying about his sexting, I was not phased in the slightest. Well maybe a little about what a tech idiot he was.
And the President has certainly gone back on his word. He criticized the deals that Bush made with drug company lobbyists, and then made an even worse deal with the same lobbyist, Billy Tauzin, whom he had painted as Satan and Hitler during his 2008 campaign. He ran on change, but hired the most conservative and DC insider group as his inner circle that he could find. Change was a lie. A flat-out lie, and I was a huge sucker. It was what I wanted to hear, and I bought in. Now I'm pissed, and I bitch about it.
My problem is how butt-hurt the President acts when he gets criticism from the left for his duplicity, and his antithesis of change. He deserves all he gets and more, and I hate it when he tells me he brought "change," and how "nothing is good enough for the whiney left." I don't want to hear it. I elected you, Mr. President, and get to complain. You either make my life better, or suck it up and take the barrage. But whatever else, don't piss on me and tell me it's raining. Don't cave in without a fight and tell me it is the best deal you could get. Don't give the large bank's CEOs everything and tell me you are looking out for the average American as our houses drown and we can't find work. Right now you are Wall Street's guy, and you have a lot of work to do to be anything else.
Looking Forward
I have written before about being allowed my own personal reign of terror. I want, as a Democratic voter and an American citizen, the same level of accountability that the banks got, and the Bush Administration got - none. I should, based on what the Obama justice department has done so far, be able to torture, murder, kidnap, commit fraud, rob pension funds and even bring down the world economy with no consequence from the DOJ.
But when Obama "looks forward, not backward" he does this selectively. It is the rich and powerful that are not held to account. CEOs of the biggest banks robbed us blind, and their consequence was record bonuses. The Bush Administration broke many laws...shit, they tortured people! Their consequence was professorships, book deals and the expensive lecture circuit. But the Obama DOJ has looked back on some fronts.
Since taking office, the Obama justice department has seen through the incarceration of over 300,000 illegal immigrants. It has raided, closed and arrested the operators of many medical marijuana dispensaries. Our prisons, rapidly privatizing, now hold a greater percentage of our population than any other industrialized nation on earth - most for non-violent drug crimes.
Rob billions from home-owners and share-holders? You are a coveted potential campaign donor. Get caught with some weed? Jailed and fucked. We see this disparity in how justice is meted out. It looks like we are Bolivia 50 years ago. It looks like you, Mr. President, have great disdain for the average American. We expected that from Bush, we hate it from you.
Jobs, for the love of god man...Jobs!
It is the number one issue on every American's mind. We all know someone who wants to be working, but can't find a job. We all know someone who has lost their house. We all know someone who is working at a job that is below their education/experience level.
You, Mr. President, are busy working on the deficit. You are busy caving in to Republican demands that social services be cut to a public that is massively hurting due to the economy already, and are doing nothing to fight for jobs. This is killing you in the polls. Mitt Fucking Romney is on the campaign trail talking about jobs. You are trying to defend the cuts to spending.
Jobs are the number one issue, more than two-to-one over the deficit. And, if Republicans weren't harping constantly on the deficit, or "spending," there would be seven and a half Americans that would care about the issue at all. But they all care about jobs. If you run against Romney (who made millions firing people at Bain Capital) you will lose if unemployment is still near 9%. If you get lucky, and run against a maniac like Bachmann, your chances are 50/50. No matter who it is on their side, they will say "you had your chance on this issue, and you blew it." And, they will largely be right.
Adopting the views of the opposition
And they will be right because at almost every turn, you echo the talking points of the Republicans. During the health care debate we heard you drop the public option and parrot the phrase "market-based solution." Where the wars were concerned we heard "facts on the ground." In the argument over tax cuts for the rich, you adopted supply-side economics when you caved in to Republican demands. You formed a Deficit Commission which has recommended hacking Social Security and cutting taxes for the rich and for corporations.
And most recently, you have adopted deficit reduction as your goal. And, now that you have the Republicans on the ropes over Medicare, you have instructed VP Biden to put "everything on the table," including Medicare. God dammit man! This lets your opponents OFF the ropes, and back into the ring to punch you repeatedly in the face. This isn't just weakness, or incompetence. Nobody can be this weak or incompetent. This is political malpractice, if indeed your goal is to help the average American family.
Seriously...if you are going to adopt the same military, economic and DOJ policies as the extreme, far-right Republicans, then what the fuck did we elect you for?
Oh, that's right: "change" (TM Obamacorp).
Now it's true that you were more socially liberal, as in DADT. You appointed two Justices to the Supreme Court that weren't rabid conservatives (they were moderates at best). But you haven't fought for us, for our wallet issues. We are getting hammered out here, and we need someone in our corner. Our corner is empty because you are not there. This is why you are going to lose in 2012.
You are going to lose because you didn't "change" us getting screwed, abused and fiscally beaten by the corporate elite. Fair or not, you are seen as in their corner, not ours. You are already making speeches that sound much more combative and "liberal" than even two weeks ago, and that will mollify some of us on the left. But not enough.
We are not stupid, and you seem to think we are. We know when our interests are being represented, and when they are not. We know the difference between making speeches that sound good, and actually taking actions towards a policy goal that helps working families. We know if someone is fighting for us.
Mr. President - we don't expect you to win every fight, but we expect you to have at it. We expect you to fight with those on the far right that openly hate us, not with those of us on the left that criticize your weakness.
But I don't think it's just weakness. This president has sold out. He and his advisors see the only road to electoral victory running through the vaults of corporate donors and their lobbyists. Their goal is reelection, not service to the people. We, the bottom 98% are an annoyance with our expectations of government that actually works for us, not for Wall Street executives.
We need change. You know what's coming...
...primary the shit out of everyone!
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