I wanted to appeal to the one true Progressive in the Obama Administration who may understand what is happening right before our eyes in this country. David Axelrod, the Democratic base has dissolved. The Unions are against you, many progressive members of the Senate are against you, progressive, democratic and independent voters are against you, and Howard Dean is against you. We worked for you, we voted for you, we donated money to you. And we feel betrayed! This is real! It is not going to go away, no matter how much you tell yourselves it will.
From the start, we watched in horror while Obama made Rahm Emanuel his Chief-of-Staff, a man many of us did not trust. Then, Obama chose Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner for his Cabinet, both of whom came from Wall Street, and continued to reward the very Big Banks that almost drove this country into a Depression. All the while, the President ignored the calls of Krugman and Steiglitz for more, or larger, bailouts for Main Street. President Obama also nominated Tom Daschle, perhaps the most entrenched Health Care lobbyist of all to be the head of Health and Human Services, at the same time that we saw Howard Dean pushed aside. Finally, last month, after being nominated for the Nobel Prize, Obama decided to listen to his military advisors, and go all into a War he cannot win. Worse, it will result in the needless deaths of young American men and women.
President Obama made Health Care one of his primary campaign themes, and promised us universal coverage. Yet, once he was President, he held off calling for Single Payer, a Public Option, or any other measure that would allow competition with Insurance Companies. While we were urged to donate to the Democratic Party to help Health Care along, Obama was meeting with lobbyists, and allowing the Health Industry to draft a Health Care Bill. In addition, his Administration made a deal with Big Pharma, that they first denied, and now must own up to.
President Obama has received nothing in exchange for his deal with the Health Care Lobby. Certainly, we, the American people have received nothing, as we are looking at the possibility that we will be forced into a deal with Insurance Companies that can charge us what they want, deny coverage, and continue their current practices that have led to this crisis. But now, the Republicans are asking for the documents relating to the Big Pharma deal. And why? Because they are going to take President Obama's faux-liberalism and shove it up his a**!
And what will Obama's base do? I want to remind you of what happened to Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky years. We knew, in our hearts, that Bill Clinton had "had sex with that woman," and then was forced to lie about it in a trumped-up legal case that the craven Supreme Court had allowed to go forward. But liberals stood by him, and defended him, nevertheless. Why? Because he was our champion in Washington. His policies may not have been all good, but we knew that at heart he was a liberal. And more importantly, we despised the Republican tactics, and their false sanctimony and most of all, the way they brought our Government to a standstill.
Now, Obama's base is not standing by Obama. Why? Because he is not our champion in Washington, as we have seen daily since his Inauguration. Do we still despise the Republican tactics? Sure we do. But having been lied to in order to get our votes, time and money, we don't necessarily despise them more than Obama. At least we know they are the enemy, and not someone who said he was our friend.
Wake up, David Axelrod. You have one chance to turn it around before all the Presidents initiatives die, and you have to spend another three thankless years in the White House. Many of us will vote for another Democratic candidate in the primaries, or for a third party candidate, before we allow this to go unanswered.
THIS SHIP BE SINKING!