Eleanor Clift: It is time for President Obama to take courageous stands on behalf of working people

[flpoljunkie]

Obama is an undefined figure to much of the country, and to his fellow Democrats. Though he’s portrayed as a liberal, it’s not clear what he’ll fight for, and he keeps that deliberately vague, perhaps hoping to deliver on the post-partisan promise his election represented. The fight over whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts is a perfect example. The White House needs to settle on a strategy and then execute it, whatever it is. Hope is not a strategy, and the extent to which Obama seems to weigh the political considerations of whatever decision he makes reinforces the voters’ disillusionment that rather than leading, he has instead become part of the government—an implicit admission of his failure to bring about the change he ran on.

What he needs are some hard-nosed policies to rescue the millions of homeowners who are underwater, plus a vision to revive the nation’s manufacturing base to begin the long and painful restoration of jobs. He needs people around him who make him uncomfortable, who challenge his world view, and who have a better understanding of the workings of Capitol Hill, however dysfunctional it has become. The people around Obama caught the lightning in ’08, but they’ve been outmaneuvered by a party that two years ago was on the brink of extinction.

This is not the end of the Obama presidency, far from it, but it is time to take courageous stands on behalf of working people so these disaffected voters, whom we used to call Reagan Democrats, understand that their financial self-interest is with Obama and the Democrats and not with the Tea Party. Those voters will be a smaller portion of the electorate in 2012 as more young people and people of color come to the polls when the presidency is at stake, but their voices count, and if Obama doesn’t address their concerns, one party will benefit, and it won’t be the Democrats.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/19/the-problem-with-the-cult-of-obama.html

[LiberalEsto]

1. Don't hold your breath. nt

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Way past time, Eleanor. he coulda done that two years ago. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Gues she, Paul Krugman and Cornell West agree.

[ProSense]

4. I would be able to take these people seriously if they stopped pushing this crap

Part of Obama’s problem is that there’s too much hero worship around him, and that translates into a reluctance to fault him for anything, except maybe that he didn’t make a good enough case for all the wonderful things he’s done. He has done good things, but the voters don’t give you credit for saving them from a depression; they reward you for making their lives better, and that hasn’t happened. The bankers on Wall Street are doing fine, but the other 80 percent of the country is hurting, and that’s not supposed to happen when a Democrat is in the White House.

<...>

This is not the end of the Obama presidency, far from it, but it is time to take courageous stands on behalf of working people so these disaffected voters, whom we used to call Reagan Democrats, understand that their financial self-interest is with Obama and the Democrats and not with the Tea Party. Those voters will be a smaller portion of the electorate in 2012 as more young people and people of color come to the polls when the presidency is at stake, but their voices count, and if Obama doesn’t address their concerns, one party will benefit, and it won’t be the Democrats.

Seriously, does the media have an articulation problem? Hero worship? Look around the friggin blogs at the level of disrespect this President gets. The other day he was compared to Rodney Dangerfield.

Yeah she's right about what voters are not going to credit him for. The ecomony has to improve. This is not supposed to happen when a Democrat is in the WH? The country was complete fucked up when he took office. I want the President to fight harder for the middle class too, and don't pretend that he hasn't been fighting. Also, screw anyone who equates support for the President as "hero worship."

Also, check out the incongruity of these points: "Part of Obama’s problem is that there’s too much hero worship around him...This is not the end of the Obama presidency."


On edit: Look how easy it is to call on the President to stand up to Republicans without insulting anyone.

[BeyondGeography]

5. You're upset about a minor point

Fact is, the same kind of advice is coming from many respected observers from the left/left of center. And, if he doesn't go in the advised direction (i.e., standing up to the Republicans and the top 1% of the country, which has been on a rapacious victory tour for 30 years), he will end up nowhere politically.

[ProSense]

7. No it's not a minor point.

"Fact is, the same kind of advice is coming from many respected observers from the left/left of center."

Respected observers who claim the President is a Republican, "dud" and the rest?

Sorry, I can't respect those opinions even if there is a call for the President to fight Republicans buried in them.

[flpoljunkie]

6. I believe Eleanor is speaking about the people around him re 'hero worship'--not the media.

It is the liberal base, of course, who are most likely not to engage in 'hero worship.' Look at DU. We are, for the most part, clear-eyed, and fair.

[ProSense]

8. So she believes

that his cabinet has gone delusional?

[flpoljunkie]

9. I think she means his political advisers like David Axelrod who will leave WH soon to go to Chicago

to set up Obama's 2012 campaign operation. I do think Obama needs someone who can level with him about the anger in the country--over his administration helping the banks and not really helping people who are losing their homes and barely holding on.

[de novo]

10. The WH is coming across as increasingly tone-deaf. Not a good thing

when people are still desperate for work.

[Mimosa]

14. +1,000 n/t

[elocs]

11. I'd like to see courageous actions, not just stands or the words and promises that go with them.

I want a line in the sand that says: "This is it. No more, no further." Not a willingness to compromise and give concessions and move the line back until it is acceptable to Republicans.

[harun]

12. He'd do that if the Republican's tell him to.

[Still a Democrat]

13. What a steaming pile of hyperbole

His position on things like the Bush tax cuts and umemployment compensation extensions are clear. It's a numbers game in Congress, and it was made worse by some in his own party not supporting him (hello Ben Nelson) and an opposition party totally unwilling to compromise. Why Ms. Clift would think he isn't devising a strategy to deal with the new congress is beyond me.

There are a handful of issues like the pat-downs where he is simply wrong and criticism from the left is fair. But this constant reefrain of "if only he fought harder" needs to be replaced by "if only we had elected more progressive Democrats." But it's easier to imagine he can work miracles and create congressional votes that aren't there than to admit we should have supported him with greater numbers and enthusiasm on election day.

[flpoljunkie]

15. The president failed to bring the American people along on healthcare and let the Republicans

win the PR war early. It is the president who must lead, particularly with so difficult an issue as universal health care. He failed to lead, he and the party are paying for it. Letting the process drag out so long in the Senate was very costly.

President Obama could also have done more to help people struggling to keep their homes. He was for 'cramdown' in bankruptcy early on in his presidency and for a foreclosure freeze before he was elected, but apparently his advisors talk him out of both. The middle class expected more from President Obama, and they feel they did not get it. And, they are .understandably, angry.

We need his leadership, and we need it now.

[BeFree]

16. look what bush did

He steam rolled everyone. Just flat out blew everyone away.

He and his cronies knew how to use the power. Obama is a wimp in comparison. Even Pelosi is bolder.

Obama is the president. It is up to him to preside over staying ditched, or driving forward.
Well, we're out of the ditch but now we have flat tires and we're out of gas.

Stuck. We'd be better off with Pelosi running the show.

[Still a Democrat]

17. You have historic reform

How exactly should be have brought them along? Cooperation from the Republicans wasn't going to happen. It was the pared down package we got or nothing.

Give the media blame for focusing on the politics and polls of it rather than what's in it.

[flpoljunkie]

18. Prime time oval office addresses explaining need for the stimulus, universal healthcare for a start

This is what the presidential bully pulpit is for--speaking directly to the American people, 'refudiating' Republican lies repeated ad nauseum by the right wing media echo chamber--and helped along by a feckless main stream media who can't be bothered to call out Republican lies.

[Still a Democrat]

19. Good Lord

You honestly aren't aware of the countless times this president spoke out publicly, defending this reform, doing his best to counter the GOP propaganda machine?

What cave were you in?

You believe an Oval Office address would have made a magical difference? Or is it just the one thing you could think of that he *didn't* do, so it must have been the deciding factor?

[flpoljunkie]

20. There were no oval office addresses. And yes, I obviously think they would have helped.

I also think Obama thinks he could have done. He has said as much.