Check out Jed Lewison's article on the Front Page. The White House is close to "cutting a deal," i.e., capitulating to the GOP, wherein the cuts get continued for all for 2-3 years. This is not even the permanent middle-class/temporary wealthy tax cut, which was the "compromise" position they telegraphed.
Sound familiar? Take a strong bargaining position, pre-compromise before you even begin, then fold when you encounter opposition.
This is simply not the change we voted for, that we worked our hearts out to bring about. And this is not the bold candidate we supported, a man with so much promise that he inspired even young, usually apathetic voters to get excited about the political process.
For me, that's the worst part because those young people, the foundation of our Nation's future are largely turned off now. And they are disillusioned for some time to come.
As a former opponant once said,
"Shame on you, Barack Obama!"
Perhaps if these were "ordinary times," President Obama's lack of boldness wouldn't be so critical. But our Nation is in a very bad place now, and this President had the opportunity to be transformative had he chosen to step up. Instead he's taking us down pretty much the same path we've been on, and these tax cuts are a stark demonstration of that dynamic.
What we need is change, real change, the change which was promised, but not delivered.
What I would strongly advocate for now is a Primary challenge to Barack Obama in 2012.
The model which seems most viable is the Eugene McCarthy challenge to LBJ in 1968. That challenge to a sitting Democratic President seemed even more unlikely back then than it does now. But as with Obama, Lyndon Johnson angered his base, in that instance by continuing to senselessly escalate an illegitimate, useless, costly and unpopular war.
McCarthy challenged him on that, and the good Senator, who came out of nowhere was able to open up the race and drive LBJ out.
To follow that model, we'd need a challenger representing the base, and as it follows, the interests of the vast majority of Americans. we need someone who will end the foreign wars, get control of Banksters/Wall Street Gone Wild, bring fairness back to the tax code, support REAL health care reform, and policies designed to revitalize the Middle Class.
There are several people who could get this ball rolling. The most prominant is Dennis Kucinich, who has the interests of the People at heart, and would represent a real challenge.
Kucinich, like McCarthy would likely shock Obama (and the Nation) with the numbers he'd put up. He likely would not pass Obama, but he would be likely open the Primaries up to all takers.
On the sidelines are folks like Russ Feingold, Wes Clark, Howard Dean, and Al Gore, all of whom have either run for President or been talked about to run. Perhaps we'd even see our newly elected California Governor, Jerry Brown, making his political comeback complete.
I do not think that Barack Obama would be our strongest candidate in 2012, and we need to go with our best. And we need to go with a candidate with a higher level of integrity, one who'll at least give their all to bringing about the change they run on.
Finally, a challenge might not succeed in delivering a better candidate, but at least it can help to refocus the one we've got now.
And perhaps if we begin to look elsewhere, this President might find his spine and remember after all what he ran on.
He can start by standing firm on the tax policy we voted for.
And BTW, it's true that the Democrat lost in 1968, but that was due to unforeseen circumstances. As close as Hubert Hunphrey came to beating Nixon, Bobby Kennedy would have kicked Nixon's ass had he lived. And remember, though Humphrey as a good and dedicated Liberal, he refused to separate himself from Johnson's War policy, and therefore continued to alienate the antiwar base.
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