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Some Liberals on to Obama's Betrayal of Liberalism
As a self-proclaimed independent journalist normally content to attack politicians from outside the establishment, I’ve found it very lonely criticizing Barack Obama these past three years. Before then it was easy to be at odds with power, since the Bush nightmare rallied all sorts of disparate foes of the administration.
President Barack Obama speaks about the American Jobs Act, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011, at Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) But with Obama’s arrival in the White House, ordinarily skeptical liberals thought they had found their redeemer, a genuine reformer with leftist instincts who, even better, was the son of a black African father and a liberal white mother. It didn’t matter what Obama’s actual record was — how (or if) he voted in the Illinois Senate and U.S. Senate, who his political sponsors or donors were, or what sort of people he expressed admiration for in “The Audacity of Hope.” Because he said he opposed the invasion of Iraq, wanted to reduce corruption in Washington, would close Guantánamo, would rein in Wall Street’s recklessness and would “renegotiate” the North American Free Trade Agreement, Obama was a dream come true.
So when I began challenging the assumptions about Obama’s progressive potential, months before the 2008 election, people who had once joined me in raucous denunciations of Bush started looking at me funny, their voices turning testy, their faces tense. I recall a prominent academic I know recoiling from me and placing a protective hand on his wife when I contradicted his excited chatter about an Obama presidency. Another time a prominent left-wing editor went so far as to defend Obama’s sponsor, the thuggish and reactionary former mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, by lamely insisting, “He’s better than his father.”
Now, as the “first black president” almost daily moves further to the right, I’m still usually alone, but I am beginning to feel a tiny pulse on the liberal end of the spectrum. It began in June with Obama’s fake withdrawal from Afghanistan and from an unlikely source. If Obama worship was once epidemic in the U.S., it was virulent in Britain and France. But here was an Englishwoman, Jemima Khan, better known for her glamorous looks and ex-husband than her political writing, finally calling out Obama on his outrageous doubletalk.
“Alhamdullilah!” (Arabic for “Praise to God”), she wrote in Britain’s Independent newspaper. “President Obama is finally withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Except he’s not — only those he deployed in the ‘surge’ of 2009; 68,000 will remain, double the number sent by his predecessor, George Bush.” Khan knows something about Middle Eastern and Islamic politics, having lived for years in Pakistan with Imran Kahn, an opposition politician and former cricket star. And she got to the heart of the matter about America’s mad, counterproductive occupation of Afghanistan. Noting that U.S. drone bombs had killed roughly one al-Qaida leader for every 10 Pakistani civilians, she wrote, “There comes a point when you have to ask: What is more dangerous, terrorism or counter-terrorism? The irony of the ‘war on terror’ is that the U.S. can win it only when it stops fighting it.”
Now, she lamented, many Pakistanis hate America at the same time that the war’s supposed objective — says Obama, “to defeat al-Qaida” — has been shredded. As the astute Khan pointed out, “more safe havens exist and terrorists operate now outside of Afghanistan, from Peshawar to Sanaa.”
Granted this was only one column in one Western paper. But Obama soon angered a broader audience. His concessions to the Tea Party during the debt-ceiling fight at last roused economist and columnist Paul Krugman to near-fury in The New York Times. Calling the deal “a disaster” for the economy, he slammed Obama for “folding” in the face of “blackmail.” Krugman said: “He surrendered last December, extending the Bush tax cuts; he surrendered in the spring when they threatened to shut down the government; and he has now surrendered on a grand scale to raw extortion over the debt ceiling. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a pattern here.”
Even the deeply conflicted Nation magazine began to remark on Obama’s increasingly spurious liberal credentials, though not quite with its full-throated institutional voice. In a signed “comment,” the estimable William Greider argued that “people who adhere to the core Democratic values Obama has abandoned need a strategy for stronger resistance,” which “would not mean running away from Obama but running at him — challenging his leadership of the party, mobilizing dissident voices and voters, pushing congressional Democrats to embrace a progressive agenda in competition with Obama’s.”
Perhaps Greider had heard the apparently impromptu statement of Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.) at a press conference on July 27 during the debt-ceiling battle: “I say we have to educate the American people at the same time as we educate the president of the United States. Because the Republicans, Speaker [John] Boehner [and] Majority Leader [Eric] Cantor, did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal. The president of the United States called for that. And my response to him is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this.” And Conyers hadn’t yet heard the president’s Sept. 8 “jobs” speech in which he called for “modest adjustments to health-care programs like Medicare and Medicaid.” We can just imagine how modest.
Things died down a little in August after the “compromise” to lift the debt ceiling. But Obama just won’t stop insulting liberals; indeed, there doesn’t seem to be any concession to the right that his chief of staff, Chicago’s first brother William Daley, can’t persuade him to make. On Sept. 2, Obama stuck it to the liberals once again when he said he was backing off from a stricter air-pollution standard, supposedly to save jobs. Environmentalists were predictably upset and expressed their feelings of betrayal. The journalist and activist Bill McKibben called the decision “flabbergasting,” adding, “somehow we need to get back the president we thought we elected in 2008.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I see a pattern here.
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170 Comments so far
Show AllGood to hear that at least a few Obamabots have sworn of the cult koolaid.
Among the many Obamabots I know, they guzzle more cult koolaid with each passing day, they keep blaming Republicans, and they lose sleep worrying that Obama won't be re-elected in 2012.
"..and they lose sleep worrying that Obama won't be re-elected in 2012."
Boy, have THEY got a treat in store for themselves when this turkey goes down in flames next year.
At least one big plus will be that the Mantle of Total Rejection can be handed-off from Carter to an honest recipient. An award he's totally earned –unlike the Noble Peace Prize.
The only state this lame duck will be carrying in '12 will be the State of Shock (along with his bags) while Obamabots remain behind in the State of Denial.
Hey, I voted for the man. Sure wish he could have been the guy most supporters expected.
I'm not so sure ... O's done a great job stifiling any opposition from the "left" while enacting right wing policies. That's an almost invaluable service to wall street, the banks, the international corporations, the monied elites .... and it's a service that Obama alone is in the unique position to render. Installing an R back in the white house will ruin that sort of quiescent dynamic that has muzzled the "left."
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O is in the unique position of being able to achieve things that an R likely could not .... like defunding social security. I think if he gets the lions share of the backing from wall street et al then he will cruise to victory in 2012. If their support is split more or less evenly between himself and either Romney or Perry, then he might have a tougher fight , but as an incumbent I would think he is still the favorite in that scenario. His 2012 prospects would be in jeopardy if the Street backed his challenger ... then the writing is on the wall (but don't worry about poor O, the only "shock" that he'll have is when he finds $100 million in his bank account.)
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Cruise To Victory with Obomber in 2012!
This election cycle is already a sad death march with a bloody outcome assured.
Vote For Obama! He Might Spill Less Blood!
Since Obama has pushed through more Republican legislation in two years than most Republican Presidents have pushed through in four years, the GOP wants Obama to be re-elected and continue moving the Democratic Party further to the right and pushing more Republican legislation that gives the Republicans cover so they don't need to take heat for it in House and Senate races.
I agree that Obama has pushed through plenty of rightist legislation, but that's not enough so that "the GOP wants Obama to be re-elected." DC doesn't work like that. I have no doubt that the Republicans want to see one of their guys in the White House.
Maybe some usually Republican donors have mixed feelings, but the politicos always want the gold ring.
There really is no difference. It's all a sham to convince those not paying attention (the majority of US citizens) that they have a choice. God forbid, the real people actually revolt against all this thievery and subterfuge. That's what would likely happen if they learned the truth.
I hope the people who are upset with Obama will not vote for what ever wack job the Republicans put forward. We MUST GET OVER the two party strangle hold on our elections. If you are upset with the Dems, or upset with the Repubs, it does not mean you have to vote for the other head of the corporate political party. Face it!! The policies of the two corporate parties are EXACTLY the same---help the rich get richer. And lordy!! aren't they doing a fine job on that task?
Wise up, PLEASE!! And don't vote for either a Democrat or a Republican. In this coming campaign season the politicians will be out lying each other 24/7. Don't fall for it. Vote for the candidates put up by the smaller non corporate political parties or vote for an independent candidate. Shee it. Write in your dog's name. Don't give the corrupt bastards the semblance of legitimacy by voting for them.
Riiight. The Dem die-hards are suddenly going to vote Republican, or 3rd party. Not. And that $billion war chest Obama is amassing from his corporate sponsors is going to sit unused. Are you kidding me? No President in Amereichan history has done more for the Plutocracy than Obama. No President in Amereichan history has done more to advance the right-wing's goals than this "democratic" president has - the first nails in the SS/Medicare/Medicaid coffin through his defunding, er, I mean "tax holiday", scheme; three times as many free trade agreements as any of his predecessors, further increasing the offshoring frenzy of Amereichan jobs and further depressing Amereichan wages; 3 more illegal wars, further enriching the military industrial complex; more tax cuts and tax loopholes for the rich and the corporations; dismantling our public education system through his frenzied push for privitization; further destruction of the Constitution through his claim of being able to assassinate anyone, anywhere as well as his cancellation of habeas corpus - and on and on and on and on.
LOSE the election in 2012?? This man is making the Powers That Be happier than pigs wallowing in silk shit! Re-elected by a LANDSLIDE. Count on it.
Ignorance really runs strong with you Fox watching apes.
I believe Demonstorm reads less Foxish and more like the embittered progressive many of us are. Demonstorm's characterizations may be stident but they are factual, never the less.
You will note that leftirite - like all other Obama-bots - didn't comment on a single one of the long list of facts that I presented in my post. My post was not opinion, it was a list of documented facts of what Obama has done - or hasn't done - over the last 2 years. And yet leftirite's response was "you're a Fox-watching ape." Not a single comment on any of those facts about Obama's betrayal of progressives, or his pandering to the Right, just a one-line insult.
This is how the mindless Dem/Obama die-hard zombies always respond to facts about their Messiah (or, conversely, how Rethug die-hard zombies respond about theirs, same thing). Rather than acknowledge the facts and try to address them, they close their eyes, ears, and minds - it does suck, after all, having to actually face real, embarassing truths - and insult the person pointing out those facts. Very, very sad, and a glaring example of why the corporate Duopoly rules here in Amereicha.
The ignorance is all yours. This is an article about "liberals" who are upset with Obama. You may like to bury your head in the sand and pretend that Obama is "liberal" but that doesn't make it so.
People would vote third party if there was a viable third party, with a charismatic candidate, and a source of money to compete with the Establishment in the arena of TV commercials, where modern elections are won.
If there were ever a year for a third party to make a showing, 2012 is it. There are a lot of people saying no more lesser of the two evils. Why? Because they are equally evil...there's no "lesser" involved.
Personally, I'm gonna vote Socialist. I simply cannot vote for Obuma or any of the rethug hairballs and be able to sleep at night or look in the mirror.
I keep wondering...just how much farther does this country have to go until it hits rock bottom? Unfortunately, I think that question is going to be answered sooner rather than later.
Obama was put in office by those who want to destroy the progressive movement and leave this country totally defenseless to the corporations that are sucking it dry. In that sense, he has performed splendidly for his handlers.
CD readers were absolutely light years ahead of others in identifying who Obama really is and who he really works for--and it is sure as hell not progressives.
I would rather see one of the right-wing nut cases be our next president than give Obama another 4 years to completely destroy our social safety net. I prefer the enemy I know to the enemy who pretends to be my friend, while standing alongside of me and stabbing me in the back.
The ultimate goal here is to destroy everything that is in the way of total corporate domination of this country. That means destroying the middle class, our sense of country (to be replaced by The United Corporations of America), and anything at all that stands in the way of the oligarch's ceaseless efforts to strip the American people of what little power and resources they still control.
Obama is the consumate con-artist who was the perfect choice to faciliate the end game that is most assuredly coming if he gets 4 more years to do the biddings of his handlers. This country will be absolutely unrecognizable. The human race's oldest dream of a country governed by the will of the people will have been shattered forever.
That is ignorant nonsense and stupidity that I expect on Fox News. Where do you get your rabid anti-Obama hate? Democrats and President Obama are the only ones still trying to help the middle class survive. They are the only ones caring about the poor. Selfishness and hate against President Obama is typical of right wing stooges for corporate greed and pollution. You commenters are vile and hateful.
re: "Where do you get your rabid anti-Obama hate? "
I tried to like Obama... but it was difficult when I've had to spend so much time removing the spit he and his administration have hurled repeatedly in my, and all true progressives' direction.
So there's your answer. We didn't get the hate from FOX, but from the man himself, who has in no uncertain terms let us know first that he really didn't like us either.
re: "Democrats and President Obama are the only ones still trying to help the middle class survive. They are the only ones caring about the poor. "
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize until now that you were a comedian pulling our legs. Let me respond the way I should have...
Aaaa-Hahahahaahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
Oh Barf!
You cannot be serious.. obama is a nothingburger
Now I know you people are right wing racist republican tea partiers who belong to the party that lies and hates and obstructs. I won't spend any more time with the venomous republican hate from hateful people who have no sense how dire our situation is with the GOP against the EPA, against intelligent people, and against health care for Americans who are not wealthy.
Whatever. We certainly don't need another remote controlled Obama drone witlessly agitating for more and more globalist empire. And thats all you are, believing the Dem lies — just another apologist for empire and corporate greed.
I think Barack Obama was a "remote controlled drone" since before he won his first political office. As to his campaign for and winning of the presidency, it was a "fool the liberals" stunt all the way. The only thing I don't know is who was in on it from the beginning and who, among visibly political people, was genuinely fooled.
I was not so utterly fooled by Obama, as I was fooled into believing that an awakened populace in America could force Obama, and give him the strength to contend with our real problems. That's what Americans have falsely been led to believe is possible — The president doesn't lead the change, but follows the people out front.
Looking back at why I voted for him, I suppose I figured that even a pragmatic realpolitik Chicago Democrat, when put into a position with the authority, and shear historical necessity that confronted him, would do at least as well for the social justice movement as a Nixon... I even foolishly conjectured that a realpolitik Chicago Democrat might be just the right camouflage for a true populist to ascend to the highest office, where he could then show his true colors, and be what he's now called anyway, a true socialist revolutionary leader for the people. Living through the Bush nightmare it seems will make one believe in foolish pipedreams.
Hell, I figured that at worst, what could he turn out to be, other than just another inept disappointment? — I didn't consider that he would turn out to be a well-calibrated hightech robot of destruction taking out the last remaining rights and privileges of the American public.
"I didn't consider that [Obama] would turn out to be a well-calibrated hightech robot of destruction taking out the last remaining rights and privileges of the American public."
Well said, Salusa. I warned people not to expect too much from him, but not in my worst paranoid nightmares did I guess what was coming.
BTW, it was the Democrap party that ensured America would not get either single-payer or universal healthcare... by negociating with and making deep concessions to the health insurance industry *before the political bargaining process was even able to begin*.
What a bunch of betrayers. And of course, the Dims can vote again and again and again to approve more funding for the MIC and its wars, but a war-lover like you seems to have no problem with this, so long as your precious 'Team D' gives it their stamp of approval.
Do you have no moral compass whatsoever?
Wouldn't you like to know what the deal was he made with Big Pharma?
I kind of like reading your comments. You're a sort of fascinating example of an Obama true believer. It seems like you operate outside the realm of objective facts and evidence .. you have some kind of irrational emotional investment or attachment to Obama, like you've co-opted his PR image into your own persona ... and when someone discredits him you react like it's a personal attack on you.
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I told a friend of mine, who happens to also be a true believer of O's, that I think O is a conserative trojan horse ... installed in the white house to enact right wing policies under left cover. He nearly had a stroke ... and that's not an exaggeration.
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I guess the bad news for you is that I'm not a republican ... never voted for or supported a republican ... never watched fox news. With all due respect I think you need to expand your worldview beyond fox news vs msnbc, red vs blue paradigm.
Brilliant summation, Old Guy. But don't despair of democracy in the rest of the world. The US experiment may be dead, but the US is becoming daily less relevant. Si se puede!
Who knows? Maybe Oblablah the con artist will join Repug party. But wait, he's already a de facto Repug!
I don't think another Repug can do any more harm that Bush III.
Let's work on building a solid third party that we can keep clean from the corruption of Wall St. and mega corporations. Until we do that there is no salvation for the American people.
We can see that the GOP has President Obama in the box they put President Clinton where they make sure nothing liberal is done. President Obama did not even have the support of Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Joe Lieberman or Kent Conrad to do anything liberal. These so called Democrats stood in the way of liberal policies. Did you pay any attention to the fact that republicans never supported liberal anything? Did you notice that Senate Democrats were also in the pocket of corporate lobbyists and never supported the liberal agenda that President Obama wanted from the first day.
O never wanted a liberal progressive agenda ... A neo-liberal corporate agenda, yes. An illegal-war mongering, civil liberties trampling, constitution ignoring, imperial executive administering, Bush term III extending agenda, yes.
If things were as you claim, Obama could have come in and pushed hard for an agenda and cabinet that reflected the views of most of his supporters. He did none of that. He kept Gates and Bernanke and elevated Petreaus and tried to get Judd Gregg into his cabinet, etc. There is no evidence whatsoever that Obama has a platform that differs from the Peterson commission which he formed, or the Wall St. bankers whom he was funded by, all the while pretending and putting forth the meme that the majority of his funding was small scale internet donations.
Yup. It wasn't Obama's fault, it was those darned Republicans and darned Blue dog Democrats.
Good lord, leftirite, wake the hell up. If you can't see that Obama has been a right-wing Plutocrat since before Day One, you are as blind as they come. Stop making excuses for your golden boy and just ONCE accept reality and hold the little whore accountable.
You wake up and be intelligent enough to not give this next election to the corrupt billionaire GOP against sane policies. You make me sick with your judgemental attitude and self-righteousness that is right from the GOP's handbook.
I'll say it again: there is no difference between the GOP and the Dumbocrats. If you can point one out to me, I'll eat my words.
But of course - you can't. Wake up, leftifite. You are what is wrong with Amereicha. Take the blinders off and stop supporting the Corporate Duopoly that is wrecking this nation.
Leftrite,
1. Everybody that opposes Obama is not a Republican. That's what this article is about, you brainwashed simpleton.
2. The arguments made against Obama here will never be on Fox News. They are way to far to the left for Fox, and too far to the left for you also.
3. You claim Obama is working for the middle class. So prove it. What has he accomplished to decrease the power of the corporations and increase income fairness in the US? He's done a helluva a lot to defaet those goals: TARP, reappointing Bernarke, appointing Geithner & Summers, caving on the Bush tax cuts, putting social security & medicare on the chopping block, ramping up the imperialist wars, to name a few..
FFS man, wake up!
So you are going to attack President Obama as so-called liberal people. If you are a republican you never wanted anything liberal and you never will. Liberals would have been paying attention to all that President Obama tried to do and had nothing but opposition by the right wing cult of no. He is one man who has an agenda, but there are many more right wing corrupt republicans who never will be for Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. You can attack the President just as every republican attack dog does and that just means that you want a republican corporate agenda by a republican president. I will keep supporting President Obama and Democrats because they are the only people who are not unprincipled lunatics fighting for corporate rule of our government. The GOP is against this country and for their selfish goals and profits.
"The GOP is against this country and for their selfish goals and profits....."
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True! And well stated. However you forgot to add this ..... "and the so-called Democratz are too." .... That's better, more accurate.
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And you're right to say that the GOP hates social security and medicare. They do. But Oblahblah is the one who is defunding it with his payroll tax cut, and he even has the audacity to promote it as a "jobs" plan!
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On top of that O's Cat Food Commission on steroids (the "super" congress) will also be going after social security and medicare ... "super" Senator John Kerry has said as much ... and with O's blessing too! Or maybe they mean something else when they talk about cutting entitlements, and sacrificing our scared cows?
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Maybe John Kerry means he's going to pay taxes on his multi-million dollar yacht? ..... Naaah!
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So why are millions of us still throwing away our votes on those who refuse to represent us? When is it time to admit the obvious? Examine the Green Party platform and install independent, Green Party candidates in every Congressional, state and local office possible in order to get some real progressives in a position to challenge the corporate sellouts. Visit www.gp.org
Great points. Don't forget another doozy that the Obamabots like Leftirite love to forget: It was Obama that offered cuts in SS/Medicare during the debt ceiling crisis - when the Republicans hadn't even mentioned SS or Medicare ! If you're going to "compromise", for Christ's sake, you don't give the other side MORE than they were originally asking for. Obama basically screwed up and showed his hand to all of Amereicha when he did that, accidentally showing his true colors. Oh sorry, leftirite...I know you don't like to hear facts like that. Just pretend you didn't read that.
Keep drinking that kool-aid Leftirite. Mm-mm good! Definitely better than the bitter, bitter brew of reality.
Your precious Dems had the house, the senate, and the WH for years, and they didn't pass a single piece of "progressive" legislation. Hmm....strange, that. Must've been those evil GOP's in the minority. They vote along with the Rethugs to increase funding for the Military, the multiple illegal wars, and no-bid contracting enriching their corporate sponsors. They refuse to vote for single-payer, instead voting for a health-insurance plan that guarantees billions in increased profits for the health insurance industry. They refuse to investigate anyone in the Bush or Obama regime for the blatant war crimes they committed/commit. They vote right along with the GOP to give trillions to bail out their wall stree sponsors, while the rest of us flounder. They vote right along with the GOP for every free trade agreement that comes down the pike, shipping more Amereichan jobs overseas. And on and on and on and on and on.
But yeah, you're right, leftirite - Obama and the dems are so much better than the Republicans! No WAY are they all playing for the same Plutocratic team!!
Thank you, Demonstorm, for pointing this out. People either have short memories, are not paying attention, or do not understand how the US political system functions. Perhaps it's a combination of all three with a little Stockholm Syndrome and cognitive dissonance tossed in for good measure!
Newsflash for the "leftirites" of the world: The US is not a democratic republic; it's a majority member of a global plutocratic kleptocracy (think "The Sopranos", only bigger). Pretending to be a democracy by maintaining the forms of a "two-party system" provides it with a legitimizing cloak, which is becoming more threadbare by the day. Capitalist Democratic politicians are not empathetic, benevolent representatives of the people. Like their Republican counterparts, they are opportunistic tools of the plutocracy. At their core, they are willing courtiers for capitalism; they could not care less about ending wars or feeding starving children. They care about power and wealth. If perpetual war and starving children serve those ends, then there will be perpetual war and starving children. Empathy and morality are not only NOT considerations or characteristics of these people, but they are traits that are discouraged and routinely disparaged. Capitalism is predatory and doesn't permit empathy.
People of the psuedo-left or liberal bent who habitually defend capitalist Democratic politicians as frustrated "do-gooders" who are trying to "do the right thing" but simply "can't because of those nasty Republicans" are every bit as deluded with cognitive dissonance as their wing-nut, tea-bagger counterparts on the right.
As you explained, the capitalist Democratic faction has had control of the House and Senate since the 2006 mid-term elections. They gained the White House with the election of Obama in 2008. Between June, 2009 and January, 2010, they had a filibuster-proof, 60-vote Senate majority and could have passed any legislation they wanted. For example, they could have de-funded the illegal wars, they could have slashed the military budget, they could have reined in Wall Street, they could have passed single-payer healthcare, they could have ended the Bush-era tax cuts, they could have ended the estate tax cuts, they could have passed a real stimulus package, they could have seriously addressed anthropogentic climate change, they could have closed down the torture gulags, they could have repealed the odious Patriot and Military Commission Acts, they could have eliminated billions in military aid for Israel, Tunisia, Egypt, Columbia .... Coulda, woulda, shoulda. The fact is this: They had no intention of doing any of those things...and they still don't. Not now; not ever.
The capitalist Democrats always expose themselves as the frauds that they are WHEN THEY HAVE POWER because they cannot possibly follow through on any of the promises they made to "progressives" on the campaign trail once they obtain office. Here's another newsflash for the psuedo-liberals: capitalist Democratic politicians lie, probably more often than capitalist Republicans, because Democratic politicians have to pretend to care about people; Republicans don't.
To support any progressive, liberal, or left-leaning legislation would mean political suicide for opportunistic, self-interested politicians, regardless of whether they are capitalist Democrats or capitalist Republicans, because both capitalist factions depend on financial support from the capitalist, right wing organizations of Wall Street, the transnational corporate oligarchs of BIG BUSINESS (war contractors, big agriculture, big pharma, big oil, big energy, health insurance, etc), and various lobbies, such as AIPAC.
Wall Street and the transnationals view campaign donations to politicians as investments and they expect substantial returns on these investments from the politicians they help put in office. They expect these politicians to carry out neoliberal strategic adjustments, which translate into the complete evisceration of the public sector in order to redistribute wealth "upward" from the many into fewer and fewer wealthy hands. Any capitalist politician, Democratic or Republican, who fails to follow the neoliberal playbook - Shock Doctrine! - will be out of a job.
I was hoping after 2006 that those of the so-called liberal-left who still (inexplicably)align with the Democratic Party would finally see the Democrats for the disingenuous cretins they are, but alas, at least with regard to ill-informed commenters like Leftirite or my democratic friends and family members, when the topic of Obama or politics comes up, all I hear is silence, that is, when they're not bashing Republicans for all the world's ills.
Well said Demonstorm and Giovanna!
Oh, come off of it, leftirite! Obama promised the moon to his voting base, and he has absolutely no intention what. so. ever. of delivering and keeping his promises. As bad as the GOP is, Obama and the Democratic Party at large have to bear just as much responsibility. Obama's a closet Republican, and anybody who didn't see that from the get-go (well before the election) is about as blind as a bat.
If the Republicans voted for their version of Obama, it would be like Rick Perry winning the presidency, then turning around and being a populist who brought down Wall Street, and the imperious domination of corporations over the Western World. That would be in the first year. Top that off with universal healthcare in year 2, ending the drug war in year 3, and giving restitution for exploited black and indigenous Americans in year 4... and on and on and on...
Would the Republican base still be gung ho for Perry by the time elections came around?
Could we please just have most of you admit you are racists who hate that we have a president who is black? I pay attention to what is going on all the time and I have never seen such rabid hate and venom against President Obama. Where is the outrage about Mitch McConnell opposing everything that Democrats put forth for the first two years? They were great policies that Mitch McConnell filibustered ruthlessly. He used the filibuster on everything that came to the Senate. Democrats in the House worked so hard on good policies to help America recover from the ruin of eight years of the GOP. Most of it did not go forward because of the party of no. I will always blame this GOP for the country not moving forward and I will always oppose their hate and lies against President Obama. I am white, but I live in Louisiana so I am well aware that there is racism and hate for the President who is fighting for our welfare.
Mitch McConnell never even claimed to be on our side, so he couldn't betray us. But since you mentioned the filibuster, how come your own damn party couldn't filibuster anything proposed by the Bush Administration, let alone the same policies (like, say, USA-PATRIOT) when pushed by the Obama Administration?
"Could we please just have most of you admit you are racists who hate that we have a president who is black?"
No, "leftirite", you may not have such a false statement from me. Bravo -- you've just demonstrated one of the most sinister aspects of Obama: whenever anyone points out that he's a wolf in sheep's clothing, his supporters can play the race card.
You are the cliche king--or queen. Are you trying to use reverse psychology? If so, you lack the requisite subtlety. May I suggest you pursue a career in late night cable television advertising.