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Demanding That Obama Do More

Posted by libhom Saturday, March 14, 2009

A recent post on Preserve, Protect, and Defend does an excellent job of pointing out the frustrations Obama supporters have with his conservative critics in the corporate media and in Congress. I encourage you to read the whole post, part of which I'm excerpting here.

I'm so sick of all the talking-heads that spout only drivel, second-guessers, back-seat-drivers, know-nothings and do-nothings that I could vomit.

At the same time that they're telling Obama that he's not doing enough: that he should have solved the economic crisis by now— you know, the one that took at least all the years since Reagan took office to create —they're managing to tell him that he's doing too much. Somehow, they've managed to convince themselves he can do both simultaneously.
And they accuse us of calling him Superman.

What they're actually saying is that they don't want to save the environment and create sustainable energy sources. They don't want the rest of us to have affordable health care. They don't want to care for our veterans. They don't want to allow the children of us peons to receive an education. And they absolutely refuse to see how all these matters are related to each other and the economy.

It is understandable that people would be tired of the nihilism and opportunism of the right. However, we all have a responsibility to be "back seat drivers" and "second guessers." In a democracy , that is our responsiblity and inalienable right. We have to remember that politicians work for us, not the other way around.

There are critics on the left who are making legitimate points about the need for Obama to do more. He needs to do more, a lot more, in many areas. Here are some blatantly obvious examples.

- Budgeting a massive expansion of our nation's public transportation network

- Rapidly and completely withdrawing from a war on Iraq that is devastating our economy while destroying theirs

- Working for a moratorium on foreclosures

- Supporting HR 676, the single payer healthcare bill, rather than imperiously saying that single payer is "off the table"

- Restoring all the financial regulations that were included in the Glass-Steagall Act, which was slowly eviscerated by Republicans as well as Phonycrats like Bill Clinton

- Subjecting hedge funds to all the same transparency and regulations of regular mutual funds

- Repealing the Bush tax cuts for the rich ASAP, given the easily observed fact that tax cuts for the rich slow the economy and helped to cause the crises we face

- Budgeting money for the Gulf Coast Civil Works Project

- Working in a calm, cooperative manner with the international community to repeal NAFTA and other corporate controlled trade agreements, including dissolving the World Trade Organization

- Strongly enforcing our nation's antitrust laws so we won't have the economic disruptions caused by huge corporations going under

- Firing Larry Summers, chief Clinton administration architect of financial deregulation and corporate controlled trade deals

These are just areas where there are deficiencies in Obama's economic policies. There are a lot of policy deficiencies in other areas too.

We need to push Obama hard, not blindly support a center-right Democrat like him. We can't afford to go along with too much of the same when the same is devastating our country. Liberals and progressives cannot afford to make the same mistake we made before of giving Bill Clinton a chance. That was a disaster. We need to fight hard no matter which politician is in office.

 

5 comments

  1. Lew Scannon Says:
  2. All good points. Obama should cater to the people who fought to get him elected, and not to the people who would just as soon have a Republican in office.

     
  3. two crows Says:
  4. hi libhom--
    I agree with Lew-- all good points.

    I've been hearing that, somehow, he and Congress must curb businesses so that no one of them is allowed to become 'too big to fail'.
    And I absolutely agree. We've got to do that and do it in such a way as to make it difficult for the Rethugs to march it backwards again.

    Regulate, regulate, regulate, dammit!
    xxx
    I agree, too, that we've got to get out of Iraq asap. As to Afghanistan -- I don't know.
    And, somehow, I think Pakistan should no longer be counted as an ally. The fact that its got the Bomb might make that a bit touchier.
    Still, we managed not to be friends with the USSR. And it had the bomb. And we're still here. . . .
    xxx
    btw--
    thanx for referencing my post.

     
  5. C Woods Says:
  6. Thanks for visiting my blog. I posted an answer to your question on my post about the April Blog Against Theocracy event, which you can find here:
    http://tirelesswing.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-against-theocracy.html

    Briefly, the designs on my post are mine, which anyone is free to use on one's own Blog Against Theocracy, with the restrictions stated on the post. (See my full comment for additional info.)

     
  7. GDAEman Says:
  8. A friend says disappointment with Obama will grow to such a degree he won't have a second term. He's good at predicting things, but I can't buy it.

     
  9. The only talking heads I like are Olbermann... And Maddow.

     

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