All I hear from the progressives at this point is how the president isn't living up to the legacy of FDR. Well FDR had a chance to put health care for all in place and he bargained it away. He got nothing( I'm assuming those on the left would have been happy to do away with social security as well because getting only that would have been seen as a "compromise"). . Ted Kennedy had a chance to champion Jimmy Carter's deal for health care for all working Americans and he decided to go for it all we ended up with nothing. Kennedy did it because he wanted to run for President and didn't want to rubber stamp the Carter agenda. No one talks about that either. (But according to the left, that decision should be applauded because he stood on principle. Never mind the fact that he later in life said it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his political life.)
I have no idea what the standard is for this President. If he had stood on principle in the health care debate (meaning single payer), we would now have nothing. If he would have stood on principle during the fight for financial reform, we would have nothing. This president doesn't need to grow a set, he has a set. He has decided to set a course of attainable progress. It doesn't help him with the left (who want some progressive superman to take down the Republicans without so much as a nod to the procedural rules of Congress that wouldn't allow such a thing), the right continues to call the President a socialist, a communist, a traitor, a Muslim terrorist, etc. How much bravery do you think it takes for someone to act even though they know it will curry no favor with either supporters or detractors?
Frankly I'm of the mind that the President should just finish out his term and go on to become extremely rich as the foremost citizen of the world. Because even if those in the US don't appreciate him, he is without a doubt the most admired leader in the world today. If the US doesn't want him, then I guess we don't deserve him. I'm not defending his decisions. I've been just as disappointed in some of them as some of his most vocal critics have been. But I do understand political reality. And after the next election, when those on the left will be, I assume based on their current rhetoric, celebrating the end of the term of the great appeaser, we'll all get a dose of political reality, Republican style. And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that.
6 comments:
Mycue as much as we criticize Obama I don't believe he will have a primary challenge. I see us all coming to our senses by 2012 and giving this highly intelligent and extremely competent president a second term. We need a jolt of reality, got any ideas? Maybe in January when the thugs take control of the House, that will be our wake-up call. I criticize Obama but I will support him, no doubt about it.
Sue,
I don't include you in those that would want to see this President replaced. However, reasonable voices are becoming harder and harder to find.
What a wonderful, wonderful post. How good it is to read a rational argument based on knowledge of history rather than hysterics.
I'm as disappointed as you with the reaction of the extreme side of left. Almost since Obama was sworn in the far left has attacked him as much as the far right. And none of it has bordered on constructive criticism. Though the terminology may be different it is just as vitriolic (sp?). Someone in a comment even went so far as to accuse Obama of being corrupt.
I wish everyone could have the privilege of reading this. But this is another instance that the far left is like the far right. They refuse to listen to reason.
I'm so glad you wrote this very informative article. I've bookmarked it.
Leslie,
I've heard people say that he's worst than a Republican. It seems that all sense of history and reason have gone out the window. Anyway, thanks for stopping by. It's always good to hear from you.
Judging from what I've been seeing in comments on my blog, and from what some other bloggers are saying, I think Obama was expected to more or less resurrect the American left from the dead. He's a pragmatic politician, so of course he didn't, and couldn't, do that. So there's a lot of disappointment with him now.
What people don't realize, it seems, is that he has to have a base of support to work from. I understand that something like about 29% of the 2008 voters who voted for Obama didn't even show at the polls in 2010. He can't do very much with that kind of fickle support.
From what I've seen, an authentic "left" in America has been dead since the 1970s. Right now, the idea is to keep the "center" going and fight to salvage what we can from the current wasteland. Obama is better than what we had before, and he's a damn sight better than what we would stand to get (Palin?). A reality check seems quite in order, and I heartily agree with your post.
Great post. The Ed Kennedy "opt out" on Healthcare Reform was a disaster that has never been given its due as the grand internecine Democratic Party self-implosion that it was. Sargent Shriver never seemed to say a word about it, but then again he didn't have to.
There's still work to do.
Two more years to go. Two more years to bring our lawmakers into line so that the 2008 presidential elections actually mean something to history...
But judging by the way the youth stayed home during the past midterms and the way everyone is expecting change in the face of the GOP's historic unified opposition to any regulation, fairness and decency, it seems a lot of us still don't understand that the House and the Senate can always rend asunder the best laid plains.
-SJ
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