In my last post I lambasted the Democrats as the Party of stupid. I did so with a rather general critique, and did not wade into the details too much. Suffice to say that they had abandoned most of the allies responsible for their majority status and have essentially governed as corporatist Republicans might have. While "change" was Obama's over-riding mantra, he has delivered precious little of it. The ever eloquent Glenn Greenwald filled in some of the details, and Norman Soloman pointed out that the Dems have simply emboldened the right-wing populists with their Clintonian triangulation. I concluded with the speculation that the Dems would not draw the correct conclusions from their Massachusetts debacle, but rather would conclude exactly the opposite, that they should govern more "from the center," meaning more like Republicans, and to their own electoral demise.
Well, that was a week ago, and I think we have now seen enough of the Democratic response, and particularly the actions of Mr. Obama, to conclude that I was right, and that indeed, the Democrats are completely without a clue. Of course in immediate reaction to the events in Massachusetts one of the first things Obama did was to ratchet up a little populist rhetoric, talk tough to the banks a little bit. But the banksters and most Americans now know that this is just more meaningless huffing and puffing from Obama. If anything can be gleaned from his first year it's that Obama can certainly talk a good game, but when it comes to actually backing up all that talk with action, well, he seems much less adept at that, or a more cynical conclusion might be that he rarely intends to put into action that of which he speaks. This has become such an obvious pattern that, as Bob Herbert has pointed out, he is very rapidly exposing a "credibility gap" with many voters, but particularly with left-leaning, traditional Democrats. One might think he would want to reconsider such actions, since these people were after all largely responsible for his election! But apparently re-election is not a primary concern for Mr. Obama, if comments to Diane Sawyer are to be believed. No, he would rather just be a "good President." Fair enough, but a good President for whom, Wall Street bankers?
The Democrats are so inept, or maybe it's simply corrupted by corporate money, that they can't even recognize when someone comes bearing political gifts. In the wake of the populist rage in Massachusetts a number of Democratic Senators still had sense enough to be able to read the tea leaves (or was it tea bags?) accurately and decided that come November they didn't want voters to see their name next to a reconfirmation vote in the affirmative for "Mr. Bailout" himself, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. Indeed, stiffer opposition to Bernanke arose quickly after the Massachusetts special election, and even from within Republican ranks, including no less than John McCain. Heck, if it's one thing Republicans are good at it's shameless political opportunism. If ever there was an obvious gift to Democrats then this was it. As a first step toward showing the people he was really serious about all that tough talk with the banks, Obama could have accepted the gift from these Democratic Senators who bravely tried to throw him a lifeline. Why not let Bernanke's term lapse, and then appoint a more Main-Street-friendly Fed chairman. Well, that's what Obama should have done. What did he actually do? Believe it or not he has now spent what little political capital he has left and gone on the record expressing "full confidence" in Bernanke, and is now essentially demanding that the Senate confirm him for a second term, or else! Or else what may you ask? Or else the markets will become "unsettled." Perhaps even more laughable was word of Obama's Treasury Secretary, Wall Street insider and ethically conflicted bank servant Timothy Geithner, also demanding that Bernanke be confirmed, or else! Or else what, no more bailouts for Wall Street gamblers? I can see the Republicans quaking in their boots after that threat, Not!
Judging from these actions it seems clear that the Democrats must really have no idea of how this is playing with regular working folk, nor how well the Republicans will be able to use this to their electoral advantage come November. No, they don't seem to fathom the problem with hooking their caboose, and the Nation's economic recovery, to the guy who helped usher in the second coming of the Great Depression. Moreover, while Bernanke dished trillions of dollars of taxpayer cash to the banks, who are now writing record, business as usual bonuses, an unemployment disaster descended on America, and has yet to be adequately addressed. Who does Obama think is going to re-elect him come November, a handful of rich, greedy bankers, or millions and millions of struggling Americans who see their economic dreams being trumped while billions go to aid banksters? One could scarcely imagine a more delusional and self destructive political calculation, but there you have it. We are talking about Democrats here after all.
But it gets worse. Apparently in an attempt to try and re-capture the mythical "center"--what that center might actually be I have not the slightest idea--Obama has announced a "freeze" on some Federal discretionary spending. You got it. At a time when we need more than ever the spirit of FDR, Obama is channeling Herbert Hoover so as to tame the awful deficit, and demonstrate to the folks that matter (ie. bankers and other corporate elites), that he is a true fiscal conservative. Of course, off the table from the get-go is all "security" spending, meaning that the already obscene defense budget (war budget would more accurately reflect the nature of the spending) will simply continue to grow. It already amounts to more than the combined defense expenditures of most of the rest of the world. With such profligacy you might think that evil hordes were swarming the national territory on every border, while in reality we are kept in mortal fear and told we must spend our children's inheritance because of, "... those skinny, lice covered, illiterate, dirty men in those craggy hills of a broken country?" While any real effort at reigning in spending would have to look at the defense budget, there are lots of other arguments against this ludicrous plan, and many were articulately made by none other than Obama himself during the 2008 presidential campaign! So, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, we now have Obama arguing against his own plan, before he's fully announced it! He doesn't have a credibility gap, it's a credibility ocean!
With all this it's hard not to think of FDR, who taught us that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. If only Obama would begin to listen to those instincts, the instincts of a community organizer that he must have harbored in his heart at one time, rather than the pratings of Rahm Emanuel, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner and other denizens of the corporate bubble that suffocates Washington, perhaps we could hope for a more people-centered governance from here on out. I wouldn't hope to hard though, for that may be Obama's greatest failing since taking office, he has done more to kill hope than any Republican could have. No doubt we will hear some additional details, and excuses, during his first State of the Union Address tomorrow night. I however, would simply sum it up thusly, FUBAR.
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