This blog is cross-posted at StewartAcuff.com
I am very disappointed in this debate tonight. No one supports the President more than I do. And I happen to like him as a person who has lived a life of integrity and righteousness.
But I think the President was way too soft on Romney. I don’t think the President challenged Romney on his inconsistencies, his lies, his backers like the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove, Romney’s 47%, and disdain, even hatred, of those Ayn Rand called the takers. The President didn’t even hit Romney hard enough on Romneycare and Obamacare.
Obama did ok on Medicare, but he seemed to allow Romney to say they will sacrifice everyone on Medicaid – poor people.
This is not a damn game. This is not Harry Truman vs. Dwight Eisenhower. This is a declining democracy vs. an oligarchy or corporate state. This is not about Obama’s life. He’s a great man and be will have a great life. But this is about the average people of America – the poor, the working poor, the middle class.
Sometimes a leader has to fight. Sometimes a leader has to assert himself. Obama’s reference to Lincoln made a lot of sense – Lincoln faced much bigger challenges and won much bigger issues and Lincoln gave his entire life to that job. I wish Obama had gotten some of Lincoln’s balls quite frankly.
The country is at stake – pain and more pain.
It’s time to stand up for those being left behind. This is a freakin’ fight, not a game.
Step the shit up.
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Stewart Acuff is America’s best-known and foremost labor organizer. He is the former organizing Director of the AFL-CIO. Acuff has also written two books: Playing Bigger Than You Are: A Life in Organizing, and Getting America Back to Work, coauthored by Dr. Richard Levins.