Yes, I'm probably best known around here lately as a cynic and one who has grown increasingly disappointed and frustrated with Obama, his Administration and his policies.
Today Billy Bragg was on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.
British Rocker Billy Bragg on Labor Strikes and Songs, Activism, and the Murdoch Hacking Scandal
Mr. Bragg said a few things that really struck me. And I just wanted to share it with all of you.
BILLY BRAGG: ...You know, so I think these are encouraging times. And I think—you know, I travel all over the world, and I don’t really deal with political parties. Political parties change their spots. And that’s been our experience in the U.K. But labor unions—
AMY GOODMAN: Didn’t—wasn’t it you who helped get Tony Blair elected?
BILLY BRAGG: I did. I did.
AMY GOODMAN: Red Wedge.
BILLY BRAGG: I did Red Wedge, beat Margaret Thatcher. Tony Blair was elected. And what a disappointment that turned out to be. And I understand how people may feel about Obama, but we have to guard against that cynicism. It’s very, very dangerous, of particularly people like ourselves who want to make the world a better place. Our cynicism is what stands in our way, not Fox News’s cynicism. You know, we can see that for what it is. But it’s our doubt and our cynicism. And although people may feel disappointed with the way things have turned out for Obama, you must remember that, you know, the thing that’s different now in America, and in the world, as well, because of the nature of the American presidency—the thing that’s different from before, under Bush, is that with Obama in the White House, we live in a world of possibilities. Not all of those possibilities will be realized, and there will be disappointments along the road, but it’s absolutely crucial that, as long as he’s in there, we keep pushing, because, you know, when the other lot get back in, we’re going to be locked out again. So, you must continue to engage.
You know, in the first six months of Tony Blair getting elected, after we had worked so hard to throw Margaret Thatcher out, I was seeing headlines, "Tony Blair Same as Margaret Thatcher." Those people have either very short memories or they’re professional cynics. You know, we must, when our—the people that have—we’ve, you know, helped to get elected, while they’re in there, we should never turn our back on them. We should never get on the sidelines and caught. We should be in there. We should be encouraged in—you know, giving him as much encouragement as we can, even if we have to do that with the toe of our Dr. Marten boot up their behinds. But we must remain engaged, because our enemies rely on us giving up and, you know, saying, "It’s all a sellout. I’m not going"—you know, the cynics, the right, rely on that happening. And we’ve got to—you know, we’ve got to clench our teeth and keep our shoulders to the wheel and make change happen.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, isn’t that the classic problem? People fight to get a president elected, and then they feel they have to step back because they will have the opposition fighting him or her, but they themselves—it’s sort of like a door that’s open a crack, and you either kick it open, because there’s more of a possibility—
BILLY BRAGG: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: —or it gets slammed shut, like in the past.
I recommend watching the entire interview...
Cheers and may the next Labor Day be better than this year's.