Another good analysis

The Primary Obama Movement Begins Today

Ian Welsh, 11/3/10

Let me put it simply, what went wrong went wrong from the very top of the party.  In both political and policy terms, the President of the United States, the head of the Democratic party, created this disaster.



Barack Obama took pains to let down or gratuitously harm virtually every major Democratic constituency. Whether it was increasing deportations of Hispanics, whether it was putting in a Presidential order against Federal money being used for abortions which was more restrictive than Rep. Stupak had demanded, whether it was wholesale violation of civil rights climaxing with the claim that he had the right to assassinate American citizens, whether it was trading away the public option to corporate interests then insisting for months he hadn’t, whether it was not moving aggressively on card check (EFCA) for unions, or whether it was constantly stymying attempts to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Barack Obama was there making sure that whatever could be done to demoralize the base was done.



The status quo of Democrats coming in after Republicans and accepting Republican policies as a fait accomplit must end.  If it does not, the US will experience a full-on meltdown.  Not a great depression like in the ’30s (though the US is in a Depression) but a meltdown like that which occurred in Russia after the collapse of the USSR, where the population actually declined, food was hard to find, brown outs were common, medicine was in short supply, and so on.



The left must be seen to repudiate Obama, and they must be seen to take him down.  If the left does not do this, left wing politics and policies will be discredited with Obama.  This is important not as a matter of partisan or ideological preference, it is important because left wing policies work.  It is necessary to move back to strongly progressive taxation, it is necessary to force the rich to take their losses, it is necessary to deal with global warming, it is necessary to deal with the fact that the era of cheap oil is over, it is necessary to stop the offshoring engine which is destroyin the American middle class.



The first step to fixing America is fixing the Democratic party, and the first step in fixing the Democratic party is fixing Barack Obama and destroying, forever, publicly and in the most high profile way possible, the idea that Democrats can ignore and abuse their own base.  The lies spewed by corporate media figures who earn millions of dollars a year, that every time the Democrats lose, it is because they were too left wing, so more tax cuts are necessary, must end.

3 comments

  1. Voters Deliver Massive Rejection of Democratic Leadership, Agenda

    By: Scarecrow, Wednesday November 3, 2010 5:57 am

    (T)he nominal leadership of the Democratic Party has failed the basic tests of policy and political competence, but Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and the abysmal crowd of political consultants and Third Way hacks who presume to advise them are all still there.

    They should all have been swept away.  They have blown the most hopeful opportunity for effective reform we could have asked for.  Instead, they virtually destroyed the Democratic brand only two years after voters soundly rejected George Bush and even Reagan’s mindless laissez faire approach to corporate economic and political power.  Except for Rahm Emanuel, those who destroyed hope, starting with Obama, and blew this once in a lifetime chance are still there, fully prepared to blame everyone but themselves for this debacle.

    If there were any honor or integrity left, there would be massive resignations at the top, today, starting in the White House and all the way down the party leadership.  But don’t hold your breath.  The White House geniuses who authored this debacle thought it would be a terrific idea to send the President out of the country to “get the elections behind us,” so he’ll soon be on his way to India, Indonesia, and Japan to do…what?   Clueless.

    • TMC on 11/03/2010 at 16:02

    to speak with my soon to be former blue dog representative late last night. He thinks he lost because he wasn’t more “centrist”. I told him he lost because he let down the people who elected him who were the Liberals and Progressives of the North Shore districts where voter turn out was lower than in 2006 when liberal Harrison nearly defeated the (R) Fossella.

    I also left a message City Council Representative Debi Rose. McMahon’s loss will make her the most viable Democrat/WFP/Liberal to run for the seat in 2012. I will work my tail off for her.

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