Obummer: Where is Barak when we need him?

Ah yes, the almighty Unions... (0.00 / 0)

"Waiting for Superman"

It's a documentary.  From a Prog filmmaker.  Watch it.  

That is all.

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by: Rusty Shackleford @ Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 07:09:40 AM UTC

The Great Leader (0.00 / 0)

I think you've still got your expectations set too high for Obama.

Obamamania is dead, and has been replaced with the stark reality that the USA elected an empty suit.

Somebody should have warned you - LOL

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by: Eric Coobs @ Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 14:09:00 PM UTC

Shoes are made for walkin'? (0.00 / 0)

"If American workers are being denied their right to organize when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes and I will walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States." - Senator Obama, 2007

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by: Matthew Koehler @ Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 14:15:33 PM UTC

The Obama phenomenon (0.00 / 0)

Obama is constantly offending the left but has somehow managed to accomplish, in a little over two years, amazing feats.  

He put an end to DADT and has started to undercut DOMA.  He bailed out the American automobile industry, saving hundreds of thousands of jobs and making companies like GM and Chrysler profitable when nearly everyone wrote them off as hopeless.  He's pulling us out of Iraq and begun  getting us out of Afghanistan.

The democracy movement in the Middle East is arguably a result of his Cairo speech and effective behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

But he's cozied up to Big Business, shown little support for labor, and has continued Bush's unconstitutional treatment of people under the guise of the War on Terror.

The right hate him because he's a socialist and a secret Muslim.  The left are pissed at him for the reasons mentioned above. But, somehow, in his first half-term, he has goten things done.

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by: Turner @ Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 15:18:45 PM UTC

Pretense of animosity (0.00 / 0)

I've written before and no doubts will again about how some on the left are adopting the thinking of many on the extreme right.  I think this post is just such a case of that.  Look at Eric's comment.  It is predicated on the idea that he knows what others are thinking, and have been thinking.  Now look at the post.  It is predicated on 'knowing' what Obama is thinking, and the debilitating disappointment that comes from that.  But what's rather pointedly missing from this post is any examination at all of what Obama could or should accomplish in Wisconsin.

So, if we're actually gonna discuss this, how about we look at what would happen if Obama got involved in legislation in Wisconsin.  Admittedly, this is my opinion, but I don't think the result would be a good one.  The Tea Party rhetoric (a wholly owned and manufactured product of Koch industries) is at heart a 'refudiation' of Obama, the HNIC of the Demorats.  (Even though I abbreviated it for the more delicate, I will not apologize for using that word which is on the minds of so many when they look at the President.)  As much as Obama was a galvanizing force for the left in the election cycle of 2008, he is now the perfect foil for the extreme right.  In case few have noticed, Wisconsin just gave the wheel a big ole clockwise spin, and voted hard right.  That's why Walker is governor, and the legislature is dominated by Teapublicants.  Obama's involvement would do absolutely nothing but steel the resolve of Wisconsin's union busters.  It would be counter-productive.  Obama is many things; a moron is not among them.  I think he's pretty well aware that his involvement would not have a terrific outcome.

The second point gets right to the heart of the left adopting rightward thinking.  The right established and promotes the idea that the President is the glue which binds our culture together.  If he would but only speak, then everyone would have a pony, that is as long as kids don't get shot dead at Kent State.  The idea of the unitary executive pretty much came to fruition with Raygun and hit it's zenith with Dumbya.  If one likes the guy personally, then he is "Great leader"  If not, then he is a despot, a dictator.  The right wins coming and going, and that was the very point of authoritarian thinking.  But now we have Obama, and everything rightward is "state's rights".  Many on the left, on the other hand, remain convinced that we have an all-powerful President who can solve anything, if only he really really really wanted to.  That's an authoritarian ideal, and contra to all fact, just as the right has intended and contended all along.

If Obama were to bust an MLK move, and be seen linking arms with school teachers in Wisconsin, what would that actually accomplish, save a great photo-op? No doubts, it would make a bunch of lefties in Montana feel better, but other than that ... what would it accomplish?  Like it or not, we live in a nation ruled by law, not by a King, Governor or President.  And law is made by legislators, again like it or not.  We should be applauding like hell for the Democratic Senators of Wisconsin.  They've managed to thwart the will of the bitter through Robert's Rules Of Order.  That's a thing of beauty; it's art.  But it still says nothing at all about the debilitating disappointment that folks are supposed to have with Obama.

Read This.  That is as instructive as all get out.  Though not to the rather delusional level of an M. Tokarski, I agree with pretty much all of it.  Democrats have failed the poor, the working class and the middle class.  But that failure lies with the people making the laws, not with just one dude in the White House.  Seriously, how twisted is it that we blame Obama for not fixing our woes while having helped to elect the very people who cause those ills?  No, those aren't all Democrats.  In fact, most of them aren't.

This is not the first time I've written that the left supports unions when it's convenient.  After all, those people are often sweaty and icky and like to ride dirt bikes in my nice forest areas.  But here's the fact of it.  Unions drive the economy for those who have less than the Koch brothers.  That kind of organization gets things done.  They may not agree with 'us' on environment or abortion or guns.  But they vote, and unlike many of us on the leftward side of the aisle they have an impact.  They are the ones calling the shots, and Obama doesn't so much.

So please, keep pretending that your enemies are 'hiding'.  No, they're not.  They're out in plain view and we can't do a damned thing about them because the people we expect to be friends can't do a damned thing about them.  Obama can't change anything about what's happening in Wisconsin.  He isn't the overlord many on the left want desperately for him to be.  He can't change the fact that disgruntled and bitter ex-union workers won't support what they feel betrayed about.  Oh, Bummer.  

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by: Rob Kailey @ Fri Feb 25, 2011 at 20:20:23 PM UTC

what's missing? (0.00 / 0)

But what's rather pointedly missing from this post is any examination at all of what Obama could or should accomplish in Wisconsin.

That's what I was hoping to stir up over at 4&20 with my post yesterday.

I know you have a hard time when some of us try and look to the President's campaign rhetoric when we wonder what he should/could do in a particular situation. But I think that the link between labor and democratic party politics goes back to the beginning of the labor movement. FDR had no problems being vocally and physically involved in the struggle for labor. Sure, times are different, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But the more that people realize how hollow Obama's campaign rhetoric is, the weaker of a president he becomes.

"Obama's involvement would do absolutely nothing but steel the resolve of Wisconsin's union busters."

You think that the union-busters' resolve isn't already fully steeled? I sure do.

"The second point gets right to the heart of the left adopting rightward thinking."

You may think that left has "adopt[ed]" rightward thinking, but that doesn't make it so. You could say that you think it appears similar to you. But to assume that the left has purposefully "adopted" the style of rightward thinking would be most absolutely false. I know of no lefty who goes and studies the right and then, I like the way they think--I think I'll start being more like that.

"If Obama were to bust an MLK move, and be seen linking arms with school teachers in Wisconsin, what would that actually accomplish, save a great photo-op? No doubts, it would make a bunch of lefties in Montana feel better, but other than that ... what would it accomplish?"

Good question, and we wouldn't know the answer unless Obama did it. MOst presidents succeed by getting out among their base constituency groups and working with them, and stirring them up--"feeding their base" I call it. Something Obama has not been good at (except a few discreet situations like DADT and now DOMA), and the outcome of the last election partially reflects that.

Of course I agree with your point about the legislative process in all this. And obviously no amount of populism is going to change the current legislative makeups, but leadership, and a following predicate the makeup of the next legislative bodies. And we can say that today's legislative bodies are a reflection of the failure of Obama to be an effective leader, among other things.

"This is not the first time I've written that the left supports unions when it's convenient."

That's crazy. First, the left is not a monolithic block. That is obvious. Many union people view themselves as being on the left, so it would be self-defeating to not always support themselves. And the WIsconsin episode has shown that the unions have considerable support from not just the left, but others as well.

NOw there are definitely some on the left who use unions opportunistically--our president may be among them--and that is fair game to attack. But don't let that segment's insincerity speak for the rest.

"Obama can't change anything about what's happening in Wisconsin."

Well, that's the ultimate defeatism to expound on the powerlessness of the presidency. The president has the ultimate bully pulpit, and can rise to the level of a strong leader if he so chooses. And by doing so he can amplify the message of the unions and their supporters, empower more people in Wisconsin to get out and put pressure on the right, and can speak to the nation about the importance of unions to democratic party politics. HOw unions offer the only counterbalance to the corporate dominance of campaign financing in the post Citizen's United world.

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by: JC @ Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 18:05:35 PM UTC

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