So often when I come on this site I'm reminded of why I joined. There's so much good stuff to read and so many good chances to electronically rub shoulders with fellow progressives.
The last couple of days though have seen some of the same old stuff about not being sufficiently supportive of President Obama. And, once again, I feel the need to address some of the accusations made.
The things said about us who criticize the President come in many forms. Let's deal with some of them one-by-one.
1. Obama's leftist critics want a progressive utopia and they want it now. Anything less is unacceptable to them.
I'm fully aware that no one person is going to get 100% of his or her agenda and that compromise is necessary. I'm sure a great deal of us are familiar with the Schoolhouse Rock "I'm Just A Bill" song. Yes, we're fully aware of how extremely incorrigible the Republicans have become and we have many Blue Dogs to deal with as well. Add to that the corporate media that is guilty of just about anything but liberal bias.
To suggest we accept nothing less than Obama all by himself creating a progressive utopian fantasyland with a snap of his fingers is to show you have no idea about us. That's not even close to what our grievance is. Our grievance is that during the '08 campaign he promised several things he would do - all the while reminding us that it wouldn't be easy, and that it would take many years to undo the damage done by the previous administration - but then time and again took many of his core principles off of the table. He wouldn't even consider single payer. A public option is the compromise. And Obama as late as July 2009 insisted that any reform bill he signed must include a public option. Then two months later in a speech to a joint session of Congress he told us that a public option wasn't that important.
Similar things happened in one form or another on DADT, financial reform, the Bush tax cuts, not to mention the administration's handling of the Shirley Sherrod fiasco. Of course there's plenty of blame to go around there, but like in other things, ultimate responsibility lies at the top.
So, no. We weren't expecting instant transformation or complete annihilation of the right. But we were expecting someone to fight for his campaign promises - to at least use them as negotiating points at the outset, instead of taking them off of the table before talks even begin.
2. Critics expect Obama to do it all.
Yet another straw man. Talk to just about any of us who have been sorely disappointed in Obama's performance, and you'll also hear from us disappointment in the Democratic congressional leadership, in Tim Kane, in Obama's staff - Rahm Emmanuel, Geitner, Summers, Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, just to name a few. I'm from Colorado. I have a corporate-friendly U.S. Senator - Michael Bennett. I should know. I also have to deal with a corporate-friendly governor who flatly refused to even entertain the idea of raising taxes on the top income earners. And frankly, we have to deal with people who use all kinds of mental gymnastics to make excuses for Obama and other Democratic leaders.
3. Go to Redstate. You'll feel more at home there.
I'm not even sure a comment like - in whatever variation it takes - is even worthy of a response, but I'll bite anyway. Just speaking for myself, please look at my comments and how much time I spend lambasting the right. Same with David Sirota, who a commenter yesterday referred to as "dishonest". Same with Cenk Uygur. I've watched plenty of The Young Turks, and to assert that he's about nothing but bashing Obama is just false. He has plenty of rhetorical arrows in his quiver he aims at Bachmann, Palin, Boehner, etc.
4. Many of you are "white progressives" who are launching some passive-aggressive racism towards our President.
Nothing has been put in those exact words, but it has been not just implied but said out loud by many, including one commenter whose name I won't mention, that we are just as bad as many teabaggers in not being able to handle a black President.
Come again? Look: Tim Wise is a guy I consider to be heroic (not perfect, but heroic) due to his telling uncomfortable truths about the vast majority of whites - and many others - in America - being in complete denial of white privilege. He has laid plenty of blame for that at the progressive community - and rightly so.
That said - this needs to be stated in no uncertain terms. Race has nothing to do with it. There may be some who might have those biases, but to paint with one broad stroke "racism" on any progressive who has the gall to be insufficiently cheerful about Obama's performance just makes meaningful discussion about it flatly impossible.
5. You all are nothing but professional whiners. Why don't you do something constructive?
And you know this how? You've checked and can verify that none of us have done anything on the ground, away from our keyboards, to advance the progressive cause? I've little doubt that many of those who are strong critics of Obama's performance were the same who were in the streets in Madison showing solidarity with public employees - if they weren't some of those employees themselves. Same thing in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. I myself was at the Rally to Restore the American Dream at the end of February. I've signed several petitions, talked with friends and family, among other things.
Has some of the criticism leveled at Obama been over the top? Certainly. There's even one lefty Facebook friend I have whose jabs at our President I don't even bother to indulge. Still, we're not going away, and we aren't going to be silenced. As of right now, I will still vote for Obama in 2012. There has been plenty he's done that I've liked, such as Lilly Ledbetter. The health care bill, which I still see as a big giveaway to health insurance, has several good things in it.