Progressives Ask: Is It Obama, Or Is It Us?

[jjdrury81]

good article on the increasing pressure obama is going to be facing to stop governing from the middle and go to the left.

npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127545645

Left-wing activists described the year leading up to Barack Obama’s election as exhilarating, empowering and exciting.

Now, if you ask progressives gathered for the America’s Future Now conference in Washington, D.C., about the first year and a half of his presidency, they say:

“Frustrating.”

“Sobering.”

“Brutal.”

At least, those were the reactions of, respectively, union activist Nick Weiner, University of Minnesota political science professor Dara Strolovitch, and Steve Peha, who heads an education reform consultancy.

 

[JimG]

Even with Obama in the White House, utopia is not at hand. For progressives, this is hard to accept.

 

[estesbob]

good article on the increasing pressure obama is going to be facing to stop governing from the middle and go to the left.

npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127545645

Left-wing activists described the year leading up to Barack Obama’s election as exhilarating, empowering and exciting.

Now, if you ask progressives gathered for the America’s Future Now conference in Washington, D.C., about the first year and a half of his presidency, they say:

“Frustrating.”

“Sobering.”

“Brutal.”

At least, those were the reactions of, respectively, union activist Nick Weiner, University of Minnesota political science professor Dara Strolovitch, and Steve Peha, who heads an education reform consultancy.

The idea that Obama governs from the Middle is ludicrous.

 

[jjdrury81]

The idea that Obama governs from the Middle is ludicrous.

Could not disagree more.

He did not even stand up for the Public Option. A politician governing from a Progressive standpoint would have pushed for single payer and never settled for anything less than a robust public option.

Obama is a centrist, through and through. And many are disappointed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Could not disagree more.

He did not even stand up for the Public Option. A politician governing from a Progressive standpoint would have pushed for single payer and never settled for anything less than a robust public option.

Obama is a centrist, through and through. And many are disappointed.

He’s a long way from being a “centerist”. But that’s another question.

Progressives are right to ask the question, and the answer is that it is them. Obama always seemed to be to be more of a concept than a leader. And he seems to prove it more all the time. Having voted for a concept rather than a person who probably really does have experience and executive qualities (Hillary, though it pains me to say it) Progressives really accepted the responsibility of leadership themselves. They can only blame themselves if the exercise doesn’t turn out.

 

[estesbob]

Could not disagree more.

He did not even stand up for the Public Option. A politician governing from a Progressive standpoint would have pushed for single payer and never settled for anything less than a robust public option.

Obama is a centrist, through and through. And many are disappointed.

So you will join me in working against his re-election and will NOT vote for him in 2012?

 

[Katrina5]

Someone said yesterday, “I think Obama is another Jimmy Carter-- weak.” It saddens me to realize she is probably right. A nice gentleman, but too calm and cool.

Please grow a spine and be quick about it, or we will look around for someone who can replace you. Time’s a wastin’.

I kept trying to stay with him during the Healthcare Wars, but he kept backing off. Now with this spill, he’s really disappointing us.

In his attempts to be fair minded, he just backs off more-- not appropriate during a “crisis”!!

His main problem seems to be his advisor, Mr Emmanuel.

 

[jjdrury81]

So you will join me in working against his re-election and will NOT vote for him in 2012?

I don’t see a viable alternative. If there were one, I would likely vote for them. However, it would undoubtedly come in the primary or as a third party. It certainly would not come from the gop.

After 8 years of conservative bush, 8 years of conservative clinton, 4 years of conservative other bush and 8 years of conservative reagan i am conflicted. I don’t like that he is governing from the center but I certainly don’t want to go back to the policies that got us in the current mess that we find ourselves in.

 

[Stjudeprayforus]

I sure hope every liberal nut is front and center all summer and fall.

Will make Novembers election a cake walk for republicans…

Please… every liberal… advocate MORE spending… MORE government entitlements…
And definately… keep up the advocating of illegal immigration and keep talking about healthcare!

Don’t let Americans forget what libs are all about.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t like that he is governing from the center .

Don’t worry. He isn’t governing from the center. The real problem from progressives’ standpoint is that in most ways, he isn’t governing at all.

The ones really governing are the congressional liberals. That’s hardly “the center”. But it may seem so to the extreme left. From the standpoint of the neediest in this society, though, the congressional liberals are more “right wing” than the right wing, and Obama has voted “present” as to them.

 

[FidesSpesCarita]

After 8 years of conservative bush, 8 years of conservative clinton, 4 years of conservative other bush and 8 years of conservative reagan i am conflicted. I don’t like that he is governing from the center but I certainly don’t want to go back to the policies that got us in the current mess that we find ourselves in.

Conservative Clinton??? What? He was incredibly liberal from my country bumpkin stance.

Don’t worry. He isn’t governing from the center. The real problem from progressives’ standpoint is that in most ways, he isn’t governing at all.

The ones really governing are the congressional liberals. That’s hardly “the center”. But it may seem so to the extreme left. From the standpoint of the neediest in this society, though, the congressional liberals are more “right wing” than the right wing, and Obama has voted “present” as to them.

I agree with this except the “neediest”. THey are not the “neediest”, they are (generally) just the “wantiest”. I want my welfare, I want my foodstamps, I want my health care without paying for it, I want my power without paying for it, yeah I have money to buy a $10k car and put another $10k worth of sound system, rims, etc. in it, but give me all my needs for free.

I could not possibly disagree with the above stance any more strongly than I do now. I grew up in Massachusetts, and got to see the welfare state firsthand. When you know a woman who had no job, on purpose, lived in section 8 housing, on purpose, and had 6 children, on purpose, all for the sole reason of having Section 8 get her a better house, you begin to despise the system we live in.

FSC

 

[Ridgerunner]

Conservative Clinton??? What? He was incredibly liberal from my country bumpkin stance.

I agree with this except the “neediest”. THey are not the “neediest”, they are (generally) just the “wantiest”. I want my welfare, I want my foodstamps, I want my health care without paying for it, I want my power without paying for it, yeah I have money to buy a $10k car and put another $10k worth of sound system, rims, etc. in it, but give me all my needs for free.

I could not possibly disagree with the above stance any more strongly than I do now. I grew up in Massachusetts, and got to see the welfare state firsthand. When you know a woman who had no job, on purpose, lived in section 8 housing, on purpose, and had 6 children, on purpose, all for the sole reason of having Section 8 get her a better house, you begin to despise the system we live in.

FSC

I was born and raised Democrat and once held office in the party, as did my wife. The Democrat party ran off and left us when it embraced “gender politics” (gay rights, abortion, extreme feminism) as its only real cause. Recently, it must be admitted, the Democrat party added giving public money to its supporters in greater measure than the most profligate Republicans ever dared to imagine doing or than Clinton did in his wildest fantasies.

By “neediest”, I mean those who really are in need and can’t help themselves, no matter what. Those on SSI, those in nursing homes. The seriously developmentally disabled. This government has nothing for them that the Repubs weren’t already doing. In fact, with the reduction in Medicare, (though not all Medicare recipients are truly “needy”) this government is even reversing some benefits to at least some in need. That’s why I say the Democrat liberal leaders are more “right wing” than the right wing when it comes to the truly needy.

With Hillary Clinton, the progressives would have had a more leftish (and flint-hard) Clinton. But they rejected her in favor of a shiny hood ornament. With Pelosi, Reid and company, they elected a slot machine that comes up cherries for them and their supporters every time they pull the lever. That’s why I say the true progressives have themselves to blame for any disappointments they are having now. Elections, as they have informed the rest of us, have consequences.

 

[jjdrury81]

Hillary had too much baggage that made her unelectable in a Democratic primary. First and foremost, there is her husband. Many progressives still bitterly remembering being left out of that presidency. The concern was too great that she would ‘run in the same circles’. Her vote in favor of going to war with Iraq was no great help either.

Pelosi has done an acceptable job. Reid needs to go.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hillary had too much baggage that made her unelectable in a Democratic primary. First and foremost, there is her husband. Many progressives still bitterly remembering being left out of that presidency. The concern was too great that she would ‘run in the same circles’. Her vote in favor of going to war with Iraq was no great help either.

Pelosi has done an acceptable job. Reid needs to go.

Well, maybe. But Hillary came mighty close. Had it not been for SEIU packing the caucuses, she would have won. It could certainly be said, though, that the “progressives” caused Obama to be the nominee instead of Hillary, particularly “progressive” George Soros, without whose money and strategies Obama could never have won the Democrat primary.

I agree that Reid needs to go. Pelosi could possibly be the most undemocratic (both in a governmental sense and relative to the party as it once was and should be) person in the entire U.S. government. I am no longer privy to the inner mechanisms of party politics, but I feel safe in believing that many and many a Democrat in office very much regrets being under her thumb.

 

[bbarrick8383]

Even with Obama in the White House, utopia is not at hand. For progressives, this is hard to accept.

There are progressive “utopia’s” all over the world. I just can’t seem to think of a way to help them realize this and venture forth upon lands that already embrace this that they dream of.

Can you imagine, I’d feel like Carl after finally getting Steve Urkel to leave the house.

 

[gilliam]

good article on the increasing pressure obama is going to be facing to stop governing from the middle and go to the left.

npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127545645

Left-wing activists described the year leading up to Barack Obama’s election as exhilarating, empowering and exciting.

Now, if you ask progressives gathered for the America’s Future Now conference in Washington, D.C., about the first year and a half of his presidency, they say:

“Frustrating.”

“Sobering.”

“Brutal.”

At least, those were the reactions of, respectively, union activist Nick Weiner, University of Minnesota political science professor Dara Strolovitch, and Steve Peha, who heads an education reform consultancy.

I think progressives put Obama on too high a pedestal. He was bound not to meet expectations.

On the other hand, making speeches in front of Olympian columns about getting the seas to stop rising didn’t help any.

 

[SVP]

                     But Bob Kuttner, the editor of the liberal magazine *American Prospect,* had a different answer.                      
                   "We criticize [Timothy] Geithner; we criticize [Lawrence] Summers; we criticize [Rahm] Emanuel; we criticize the oil companies; we criticize Wall Street; we criticize everybody but Obama," he said. "Because we feel a little bit goosey about criticizing Obama."

That pretty much sums it up. Liberals are afraid to criticise Obama. Conservatives have no difficulty criticising Obama or any other politician (Rebublican or Democrat). Progressive-Liberals had allowed Obama to essentially be a god in their eyes, a saviour that would tear the country away from its ‘oppressive’ conservative history, opening the way for a new socialism that would make Europeans proud while placating the uncertainties of the Middle East. It didn’t happen. With the exception of the Health “Care” bill the rest of the agenda will not happen.

Obama is hardly governing from the center. He is hardly governing at all. For the most part Pelosi and Reid have carried him through with the health care bill. His cabinet are the ones doing most of the work while he claims the glory, and when things go bad, hey it’s “blame Bush”, or more like Bart Simpsom “I didn’t do it”.

 

[FidesSpesCarita]

On the other hand, making speeches in front of Olympian columns about getting the seas to stop rising didn’t help any.

lol, I never heard about that. That is exactly what I would expect from the prophet and messiah Obama…

FSC

 

[ConcernedApathy]

Could not disagree more.

He did not even stand up for the Public Option. A politician governing from a Progressive standpoint would have pushed for single payer and never settled for anything less than a robust public option.

Obama is a centrist, through and through. And many are disappointed.

Count me among the disappointed, He talks progressive but I can barely hear him since he’s standing in the middle of the road. He’s a centrist, a moderate and a disappointment. I wanted a liberal, somebody who would fight for my core beliefs for once and that didn’t happen. Then again I always thought Hillary was the better choice…

 

[Suudy]

Count me among the disappointed, He talks progressive but I can barely hear him since he’s standing in the middle of the road. He’s a centrist, a moderate and a disappointment. I wanted a liberal, somebody who would fight for my core beliefs for once and that didn’t happen. Then again I always thought Hillary was the better choice…

What core beliefs would those be? What about being a liberal do you wish that Obama would have pushed harder for?