Hoping for Audacity by Drew Westen

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Hoping for Audacity
by Drew Westen, Psychologist and neuroscientist; Emory University Professor
Posted at Huffington Post on June 22, 2009 at 10:10 AM

(Note: This article is definitely worth reading in its entirety.)

(snip)

The American people would understand why we need regulation of every past and future financial product Wall Street speculators can invent if someone would just tell them the story--and repeat it until they know it by heart--of how those bankers, speculators, and those whose job was to regulate them risked our life savings, homes, and jobs through get-rich-quick schemes, compensation plans that rewarded irresponsible risk-taking with our money, and fraud.

The American people would understand why we need to offer at least one health insurance plan not controlled by the insurance companies if someone would just tell them the story of how it came to be that our premiums have doubled as millions more Americans have lost their coverage.

The American people would understand why the government needs to invest, with or without private partners, in alternative sources of energy that you don't have to burn, if someone would just tell them the story of how Big Oil has been telling us they're for "all of the above" (a mix of fuels) when "all of the above" for them really means regular, premium, and super unleaded.

The President is offering the public a series of stories that are all missing half the plot and half the characters--namely, the part of the plot that says how we got where we are (e.g., 50 million without health insurance, half a million losing their jobs every month, 1 in 8 homes foreclosed or in danger of foreclosure, 70% of our energy coming from regimes hostile to us and gas prices on the rise again even as demand has fallen)--and the characters responsible for those gaps in the stories. He is trying to sell health care reform without calling out the drug and insurance industries, whose profits have soared at our expense. He is trying to sell financial reform without pointing his finger squarely at the banks and speculators who bankrupted us. He is trying to sell energy reform without blaming the oil companies who racked up record profits as Americans racked up record debts paying for their gas. And he is trying to sell all of these essential reforms without mentioning that there's been a party--not just nameless "naysayers"--that has been fighting every one of these reforms for decades. When the President does feel compelled on occasion to mention the people who not only put their interests above the public interest but are now funding the lobbyists and attack ads aimed at derailing his agenda, he speaks in passive voice about how "mistakes were made," or refers to unnamed "naysayers." The President's hero is Abraham Lincoln, but it is the Lincoln who penned the Gettysburg Address, not the Lincoln who ordered Union troops to fire.
As the President is fond of quoting Martin Luther King, the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.
Mr. President, now is the time to make it bend. Dr. King didn't seek conflict, but he never avoided it. It's time to follow his example.

More at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/hoping-for-audacity_b_218843.html

(Edited to add emphasis)

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R

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2. Some comments from the original postings of this article

at Huffinton Post...

From one poster:
"This criticism should come as no surprise to dems who paid attention during the primary.

"Candidate Obama's position on most things was COMPROMISE, not on being a fightor for one side or the other. I never liked it because compromise is the natural RESULT of taking a standing, fighting for your issue and THEN compromising only if you have to. You don't start debate from the position of compromise. We are supposed to have a Dem President, not a judge or mediator of the US who hears both sides and makes a compromise for us all.

"Needless to say, I am supportive of him and hopeful he will eventually figure out that taking the position of compromise out of the gate is not effective. I am hopeful he will evolve."

Another says:
"Compromise - (n) a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands

"Capitulation - (n) The act of surrendering or giving up

"To paraphrase the definitions above, compromise is when you give something up in order to get something else in return. Capitulation is when you just give something up."

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3. Kicking, with a few more thoughts

With all the revisionist history the gop is trying to throw around (positive for Reagan, negative for FDR), it's time for Obama to adopt FDR for a role model as well as Lincoln. Has anyone ever heard Obama even mention FDR? For that matter, while I wish Obama would talk about him, one of the best things he could do is to emulate him in the best sense of the word.

This has been posted on DU before, but in response to progressive supporters, FDR once replied:

"I agree with you. Now, go out there and make me do it."

And with great courage during one of his speeches, of those he called the "Economic Royalists" who were his true political enemies (and, I think, enemies of democracy), he declared:

"I welcome their hatred."

When & if Obama decides to stand up, he needs to expect resistance from his advisors from the DLC, including Rahm, and others in Congress who are supposed to be Democrats. It won't be easy, but the future of U.S. Democracy really does depend on it.

He began in January with the backing of the voting majority. And he will be a truly great president when he is able to LEAD with COURAGE.

(Edited for additional comments)

[FLAprogressive]

4. K&R

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5. Thanks n/t

[dysfunctional press]

6. bill maher used that same line over two weeks ago.

nt

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7. That's true, but that doesn't negate the piece

Maher gave an excellent rant, and Westen wrote an excellent article. And I've read several excellent articles recently echoing the same theme.

[bvar22]

8. K&R

Nothing to add.

I would love to see more LBJ, and less Neville Chamberlain.



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

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9. Agreed. LBJ, FDR & MLK would be great for starters!

And I wish he would recall once again how his own mother, on her deathbed from cancer, spent a lot of time on the phone fighting her health insurers for the coverage she had paid for.

All those in government responsible for public policy should recall the good people they have known in their lives while they were "on their way up" and imagine how their policies will affect those people they once knew and possibly loved.