"Exacting Change" - THE NATION Looks at the Players & the Role of Progressives

[polichick]

This article is well worth the read for an overview of President Obama's agenda and what it means to the various players ~ the WH, Congress, corporate interests, labor, environmentalists, progressives, etc.

Exacting Change

By Robert L. Borosage & Katrina vanden Heuvel

On May 15, House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Henry Waxman and subcommittee chair Edward Markey unveiled the American Clean Energy and Security Act, addressing a priority of President Obama's reform agenda: the drive for new energy. The bill was both pathbreaking and disappointing, with major compromises from its initial draft. Cuts in carbon emissions that had been pegged at the international standard of 20 percent by 2020 (from 1990 levels) were reduced to 4 percent. Mandates on renewable energy for utilities were slashed. Standards on new coal plants were weakened. Instead of auctioning off pollution permits under a cap-and-trade system (raising revenue to relieve low-income ratepayers and spur investment in clean energy), the bill gives away 85 percent of the permits, with coal utilities, oil refineries and energy-intensive industries like steel getting huge handouts. The subsidies and deals bloated the bill to more than 900 pages, and Republicans introduced so many amendments that Democrats had to hire a speed-reader to get through them. The bill's fate in the Senate is even more uncertain.

Duke Energy, the Edison Electric Institute and various other energy producers praised the bill, along with some conservative coal-state Democrats. The environmental community split: Al Gore, Environmental Defense Fund and others endorsed the bill as an important first step, while Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace questioned whether it would spur action toward renewable energy in the short term. "This bill has been seriously undermined by the lobbying of industries more concerned with profits than the plight of our planet," Greenpeace declared in announcing its opposition.

The climate bill isn't the only piece of legislation being compromised. Although the major banks are on life support, they were still able to block "cramdown," the linchpin of Obama's mortgage plan, which gives bankruptcy judges the right to reset mortgages of families facing foreclosure. That led Senate majority whip Richard Durbin to fume that the banks "own the place." Credit card companies are less popular than Somali pirates, but they managed to fend off any limit on interest rates they can charge customers.

All of the signature economic reforms the president has promoted--from healthcare to employee free choice--are under siege. Without a grassroots uprising that challenges business as usual in Washington, we aren't likely to get the change we were promised, much less the change we need.

The Reform Moment

It shouldn't be that tough. All the stars are aligned for launching the greatest era of progressive reform since the 1960s. We face stark crises that require fundamental structural reform. We have a powerful, popular president with a mandate for change--and a majority of Americans yearning for it. Catastrophes have left conservative ideas discredited, and Republicans are leaderless and divided.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090615/borosage_kvh

[andym]

1. Here's the critical part of the article- what we can do!

The Progressive Challenge

Obviously, progressives can have the greatest impact by mobilizing voters to challenge those who stand in the way of reform. Legislators too often are more attuned to the needs of their donors than to those of their constituents. Many conservative Democrats seem wedded to old arguments, oblivious to the impact of the crisis on the people they represent. Independent organizing can have a significant effect, particularly in a time of dramatic change.

To forestall crippling compromises, reform coalitions must define the scope of the campaign early. Clear red lines must be drawn around the heart of the reform, putting everyone on notice that compromise beyond a certain point is a deal-breaker. Progressives should also be exposing the lobbyists, pointing out the parochial concerns and wrongheaded ideas of those opposing change, and mobilizing support in targeted states and districts. The pain of standing in the way should be made greater than the benefit.

HCAN has exemplified this strategy. The coalition helped to introduce comprehensive healthcare reform into the presidential campaign--itself a compromise from the single-payer plan designed to appeal to the 90 percent of voters who have some kind of coverage. HCAN then focused on the public plan, detailing its importance and anticipating that the insurance companies and Republicans would target it. When key Senate Democrats like Max Baucus and Ben Nelson began raising doubts about the public plan, HCAN worked with Progressive Caucus leaders to change the calculus. The caucus polled its members and released a statement that the majority of them would vote against any reform that did not include a strong public plan. They were soon joined by the Hispanic, Black and Asian-American Caucuses. At last count, more than 100 liberals have pledged to vote against any reform without a public plan. This provides a counterbalance in the negotiations and may help stiffen the leadership's spine. At the same time, HCAN has sponsored ads in recalcitrant legislators' districts, often singling them out by name.

........
We need a grassroots uprising against business as usual in Congress. The White House won't find it easy to spark that and may not support it. But without a movement that exposes legislators to the fury of their constituents, and challenges the cozy relationships between moneyed interests and incumbents, we risk blowing the greatest moment for reform in decades.

---------------
The HCAN strategy on healthcare is just the smart kind of politicking that gets reforms done. Kudos to this article in bringing up how to accomplish real change.

[polichick]

2. That's right - we have to keep holding feet to the fire. Here's a sobering line...

"But without a movement...we risk blowing the greatest moment for reform in decades."