I read a lot of comments declaring intention to abandon the President and Congressional Dems should this debt ceiling deal go through. I totally understand where those sentiments come from. I’ve been pretty down for the last couple days. Today is my birthday, and I feel like I awoke to a shit flavored cake with a big middle finger candle on it.
The hostage survived but was beaten to within an inch of her life, and the perp made off with all the ransom money and the good silver to boot. So, now what?
I am pissed, and I want to channel that energy to something good. It occurs to me that we would not be in this mess if it weren’t for the ass whooping we got at the polls last year. Say what you want about the President, but I guarantee that if the position Obama was compromising with were far to the left of his own, we would not have to be concerned about him giving away the store. This comes down to FDR’s famous request of his base to “make [him] do it.” Even the most craven, principle-less, finger to the wind politician will do things you like if the wind is blowing unambiguously in your direction.
So lets assume that the President is not the progressive champion many expected (I read his book and listened carefully to his speeches and never expected anything but a moderate, but that’s probably a different diary). Let’s also assume that he’s the only horse we have for the next year and a half and the only realistic option for 2013-2016. Let’s also assume that even the lowliest blue dog is preferable to even the most reasonable of the tea party caucus. Anyone take issue with those assumptions?
Given that, we have to drag the Overton Window back hard to the left. We don’t do that by bitching about what the President does or doesn’t do. What he is doing is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. If the people and the media reflected a very strong progressive, Keynesian, democratic, pro-union, egalitarian electorate, and the make up of the congress included a strong Progressive bloc in the house and a solid filibuster-proof majority in the Senate then we would no longer have to stomach these hostage crisis/compromise moments. I know that seems like a pipe dream, but we almost had it recently, and we can get it if we work hard and work in arenas where we can make a difference. We have to change Washington by starting locally.
We’ve seen what happens when we fall short. The GOP will take any toe hold they can and set filibuster records in the Senate if they have 41, so we have to have 65, 70. House Republicans will take and run with any implication that they may be right about the government being too large or useless. They will demagogue, divide and conquer, bitch, whine, and use their phone/computer hacking media juggernaut to try to convince the American people that Progressive policy is bad for the country. If we let them water down or obstruct that policy then it will seem they are right. We have to elect strong Reps that unflinchingly support a progressive agenda and don’t shrink from it on Sunday shows or the campaign trail.
As you can imagine, this won’t be easy, and it will be hard to show support for the President with all the disappointment he’s wrought. Think about it this way, though: He’s not going to do what we want him to unless we MAKE HIM DO IT.
Discuss!