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
