As far as political positioning goes, his strategy seems to be to appear as a sort of ideological Universalist, one who spends a great deal of rhetorical energy showing that he recognizes the validity of all points of view, and conversely emphasizes that when he does take hard positions on issues, he often does so reluctantly. He is a black man from Chicago who gets away with praising Ronald Reagan, which is not an easy task. His political ideal is basically a rehash of the Blair-Clinton "third way" deal, an amalgam of Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton and the New Deal; he is aiming for the middle of the middle of the middle. In short, Obama is a creature perfectly in tune with the awesome corporate strivings of Hollywood, Madison avenue and the Beltway -- he tries, and often succeeds, at selling a politics of seeking out the very center of where we already are, to the very couch where we've been sitting all this time, as an exciting, revolutionary journey into the unknown. And while most of what he says and writes is basically some version of the same old tired clichés about family and faith and hope and optimism and "working together" and "getting involved," he adds to those clichés real literary flair, wordsmithing far beyond the range of most politicians.
In short, Obama is a creature perfectly in tune with the awesome corporate strivings of Hollywood, Madison avenue and the Beltway -- he tries, and often succeeds, at selling a politics of seeking out the very center of where we already are, to the very couch where we've been sitting all this time, as an exciting, revolutionary journey into the unknown. And while most of what he says and writes is basically some version of the same old tired clichés about family and faith and hope and optimism and "working together" and "getting involved," he adds to those clichés real literary flair, wordsmithing far beyond the range of most politicians.
But that was then. This is the first sign that some of his former dedicated fans are starting to get just a little bit suspicious that they've been screwed, and that when he said 'Hope' and 'Change' what he meant was 'Green Shoots' and 'Business as Usual.'
The selection pressures in the political process select for a set of abilities that have nothing to do with policy, or governance. A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
It is quite possible to support Obama in the general election, on the theory that on balance it's better to have a corporate whore in the White House than a belligerent cold warrior with a fundagelical sidekick, and still blast Obama today for promising changes that he never intended to deliver. Indeed, the American left - such as it is and what there is of it - needs to keep the heat up on this guy, and especially his little creep of a Treasury Secretary.
They need to pretend that he did promise, in so many words, to realise their agenda to the last comma. And then cry bloody murder whenever he wilfully deviates from it. Make him fear a primary challenge from the left. And boot out all the fucking blue dogs in the next midterm primaries, to show that you people mean business.
Because "better than McCain and Palin" is not a party programme.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
There's never been any evidence that Obama understands economics, and especially not the politics of economics. So when Geithner and the rest said 'Let's jump off that cliff' he was happy to follow their 'expert' lead, because he very likely believes that they truly are disinterested experts.
If Biden is now saying 'Oopsie', that could be a suggestion that questions are being asked. But I still doubt that Obama has what it takes to turn around the economy, because he'll be coming at it as a complete novice - someone who doesn't just fail to grasp the issues, but also fails to understand the people, and is probably too congenitally centrist to make intelligent decisions.
I suspect Obama secretly considers Krugman a left-wing extremist, and the last person in the world he should listen to.
More than that - Obama's chief interest is in playing Obama as president. It's a theatre performance with some fine quasi-Shakespearean speeches and a chance to influence some Big Issues. Mundane crap like failing banks just isn't sexy enough to capture his vast statesmanlike attention.
As for who to "pressure", the Obama administration is well to the "left" of the US Senate, state legislatures, and so on, but the "celebrity politics" habit of US Left is such that the tedious slog of actually pressuring people who can be influenced, or worse yet, building real political strength is anathema and rejected in favor of fruitless efforts to force a centrist president to, by fiat, overthrow pervasive corporatist power.
"Better than McCain/Palin" is, in fact, an excellent party platform.
Nobody will remember McCain and Palin in 2012. Bush will be a recollected only hazily. If your only platform in 2012 is "we weren't as bad as Bush/McCain/Palin" then you're going to get your asses handed to you, and you won't even realise what hit you.
If the German left had been as smart in the late 1920s instead of rejecting the mushy centrism of the SD, they would have had better results.
On what do you base that analysis?
And even if it were correct (which I seriously doubt), there is some difficulty in translating political strategy Weimar style into practical application in today's America. Even if you were to contend that the economic situation is similar (which in some respects it is), the electoral system and constitutional balance of power is rather different.
As for who to "pressure", the Obama administration is well to the "left" of the US Senate, state legislatures,
So what? Does primarying blue dogs in the Senate and defeating Republicans in state elections preclude primarying Obama in the next Presidential election?
I see no evidence of an organized effort to do the first. Just a lot of yelling.
On the other hand one could just as easily argue that had not the SPD gone along with governments harsh punishments for the radicals of the left and lenient treatment of the radicals of the right, Hitler could have been executed for the putsch attempt in 1923. Or at least wasted away in a jail cell for the rest of his life. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
Bill Clinton governed as "better than Reagan/Bush" for eight years and was unable to prevent something much worse than Reagan/Bush from taking power in 2001. And the world will live as one
at selling a politics of seeking out the very center of where we already are, to the very couch where we've been sitting all this time, as an exciting, revolutionary journey into the unknown.
shamanism 101...
what people want to believe is greater than what they see. his rhetoric was calibrated with perfection, milking history, lincolnism, humanist idealism, and a pinch of preacherman, with a disarming, aw-shucks grin, couched in very studiedly spontaneous post-cool body language.
brand new bottle, same old wine?
we overlooked the cult of personality, because the goals seemed worthy, if they aren't followed through all the love will backfire.
but he will be a hero no matter, and retire with great wealth, scribing some well-written memoirs about how he tried to take on the status quo with a pebble in his hand, and failed because people went back to sleep once he got elected, or believed the middle of the middle of the middle was a better place, instead of being hit by traffic from both sides of the road.
people-pleaser... perhaps if he had had better advisors... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
I wonder if the regular apathy, after a year-long road show, has put the eleventh-hour lefties back to sleep. Some took up to 7 years to wake up, deep in debt, losing jobs and in a mounting economic depression, with third world economic conditions in many cities around the country. In a semi-lucid state people fell for the mirage, forgetting an election is only choosing the best of the worst and not another instant solution.
A lot of people are forced to mind their urgent needs, and/or think political activism is only for the road shows, but at least the practice of internet discourse has grown exponentially this decade and it should be a positive lasting effect.
It happens 'everywhere' in stages and I can see it in the Spanish socialist party right now, which seems to me inattentive and blinded by gurus, if not dormant. The PP here could qualify as a divided, floating corpse, but their machinery and chorus never stops, while united left, IU, which has high activism on the net, can't win for losing due to their internal divisions. Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
while united left, IU, which has high activism on the net, can't win for losing due to their internal divisions.
ditto italy, the differences between franceschini and di pietro are minor, it appears, yet they have to have two separate parties, it's insane!
whereas berlu and bossi have lots of differences, yet unite effectively when it comes to keeping a hold on the levers of power, their ideals mainly revolve around victimising others, so they have strong agreement on that...
it seems like leftist platforms tend to be more like vapourware. big on noble wishes, petty on policies. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
for all the great benefits unions have brought since the thirties, by the mid sixties they were as corrupt as the governments and the bosses, and fouled their own reputations.
i'd like to think they're important again, and that leftist thought could coalesce behind them, but with the de-industrialisation process going on in the western democracies with global outsourcing, their rank and file hardly have jobs any more any more, let alone the wherewithal to create and maintain the enthusiasm for unions.
it is a great pity, but perhaps the silver lining is that the satanic mills model is leaving our shores, to emerge in china, which is in its dickensian period. (no rights). tough for them, but they're just repeating the same choices we made 100 years ago.
we have no choice other than to invent something new, as a way of contributing to the world.
my guess is that it's (post-industrial) cultural memes, many embedded in the arts, already mightily appreciated in japan, but still not really cracking the vast, oceanic chinese markets.
i can't think of a country less likely to produce a new politically revolutionary thinker than present day china, if marx were reborn there he'd be a political prisoner in no time...
but i bet in 20 years many western jazz musicians will be touring there and pulling down great pay, likewise dance, multimedia, and movies, ditto iran, india...
our educated classes have been appreciating the manifold cultural gifts from the orient for centuries, they are just beginning with ours, and they're eating them up... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
