One of the most powerful and depressing stories in Winner-Take-All-Politics (WTAP) is the weak opposition to the political freight train of big business over the past three decades put up by the Democratic Party. A party whose origins are in the working class and its efforts to gain a political voice in the depths of the Depression when collective bargaining was claimed as an essential equalizer in the battle with the wealthy should be deeply and energetically motivated by the recent chain of events: a capitulation of the extension of the Bush tax cuts for those at the top, the movements against public-employee unions in Midwestern states with strongly progressive histories, the outsourcing of virtually the entire manufacturing sector's labor force, the weak-tea responses to the financial industry's looting of our economy in the wake of mindless government deregulation and/or failed enforcement of existing laws -- all of these should stir the ire of a party purportedly dedicated to leveling the political playing field between the haves and the have-nots.
Meanwhile, where has President Obama been? He has repeatedly passed up golden opportunities to counter the weak arguments of the free-market fundamentalists, as if he's a puppet on the string of corporate campaign contributions or has no faith in the common sense of ordinary citizens--or both. It's a distressing sign, but it's an encouraging one to Republicans who had concluded earlier that Obama is too popular personally to take on in 2012 with a top-tier challenger. My view: Don't be surprised if Jeb Bush is persuaded to allow himself to be "drafted" as a late entry into the nomination fray after the first few events fail to produce a front runner and intra-party squabbles threaten to blow GOP prospects of a big win in the House, Senate, and White House. Granted, many regard another Bush as toxic in the wake of Bush fatigue from W's two terms. But Jeb is no W, and he alone in my view has the capacity to fuse the two wings of the Republican party that are represented by the traditionalists and the Tea Partiers.
Whether this suspicion bears fruit or not, Obama is not performing in a manner that will excite his 2008 voters, especially those who remain Independents, to cast a second ballot on his behalf. I'm not saying a Republican Tidal Wave in 2012 will solve our problems. Indeed, they will likely worsen the condition of the middle class, strengthen the debilitating addiction to imported oil, and rollback the tepid promises in health care coverage for those without health insurance contained in the Patient Protection and Health Care Affordability Act. The tight grip of the very wealthy on our politics will become even tighter; and, quite possibly, it will be the Democratic Party that undergoes a transformation akin to the one underway among Republicans now. One would hope so; what passes for a party of the not-so-well-off now is pretty thin gruel indeed.
DT
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As per usual, spot-on assessment by the svengali of Q methodology. Two-part question for all:
ReplyDelete1) Has the progressive moment passed, pre-empted by the astro-turf activism of the Tea Party?
2) Regardless of whether it as passed or not, exactly what would it take to re-kindle the flame that burned so brightly in '08?
Good questions, GDAOS (whoever you are)!
ReplyDeleteHas the progressive moment passed? I don't think it has arrived yet. Obama made it clear with his initial economic appointments that he was not going to be a bread-and-butter progresive. In the aftermath of a Wall St.-caused implosion of the global economy, to appoint Larry Summers and Tim Geithner to his top econ posts and to effectively turn his back on Paul Volcker is to wave a white flag of surrender to the de-regulators that brought us derivatives, CDO's and credit default swaps. And then to tip-toe away from a public option on healthcare rather than use it as a vehicle for taking a battering ram to the Reagan mythos that all things governmental stink and all things market-based shine was to add insult to injury. As if that wasn't enough, his capitulation on the high-end Bush tax cuts sealed the deal: this is no progressive, this guy Obama.
Has what passed for progressivism been pre-empted by astro-turf Tea Partyism? No doubt Tea Partyism is corporate-inspired and funded. The ties between Dick Armey and the Koch Brothers -- and the others who've gotten behind the astro-turfed parade of "anti-Obama-ism" are several and substantial. And they produced some pretty consequential victories at the state level in 2010. We'll be living with the gerrymandered effects for the rest of the decade since 30 states are now redistricting under Republican control. Possibly the only hope for progressives is that Scott Walker and his ilk will so over-read their mandates that they take their Reagan imitations as far overboard as in Wisconsin. Just like George W. was Obama's most important political organizer, Scott Walker is energizing progressives and unions like no one on the left could dream of. But oppositional politics will only get you so far, though a decent argument to the contrary could be made about the politics of Obama's opposition. Still, when the policy prescriptions these folks have for what ail us become unveiled, even the sleepiest of citizens will come to see them for the soak-the-poor ciphers that they really are. Is this a great country or what?!