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Why I Challenge the Obama Apologists

Listeners have responded to my frequent rebukes of three progressive KRXA radio personalities for failing even to acknowledge much less decry the Obama administration’s policy of appeasing right-wing elements in Congress and media.  Some express as much anger at the President as I do. Others say Obama is probably doing the best he can under tough circumstances and, even if he isn’t, denouncing our current military adventures in the Middle East, the health care bill, or the recent tax compromise will help America’s enemy win back the White House just as it regained the House of Representatives in November.  In light of these polarized reactions, it is incumbent on me to explain why I find the daily apologia issued by Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes and Hal Sparks’ weekly encomium for our democratic President so dispiriting and misplaced.

Politics is the art of the possible and accordingly, as the President frequently says, we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  In other words, liberals who are trying to  do what’s right and who are beholden only to their constituents and the Constitution must often make deals with seriously compromised Republicans and blue-dogs. If the President were truly pursuing policies that are helping or will help our country regain its footing, then I would be more willing to tolerate areas where we disagree such as his refusal to date to support the legalization of same-sex marriage.

But, on virtually every front, it seems that Obama is unwilling to attempt more than cosmetic changes to the legal and economic stranglehold that a tiny group of very wealthy people have on America: A stranglehold that has choked off our once might manufacturing base, hollowed out the American middle class, and put us in debt to the totalitarian Chinese state.  Sometimes, Obama’s actions may have made or will make things worse.

For example, by mandating the purchase of insurance, Obama’s vaunted health care bill creates millions of new customers for the very insurance companies that routinely deny preventive care for healthy Americans and needed treatments for sick ones.  While, the law will probably help some of us out and, on balance, is probably better than what we had previously, this is far from assured.  What is certain is that private for-profit health insurance companies have solidified their position at the top of the health care food chain with the poor and unhealthy at the very bottom.  And, rather than demanding that health insurance purchasers have real choice through a “public option,” the President made clear from the beginning that he would sign a bill that did not include one and attacked via proxy, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as “retards”, those who called it essential.

Like the new health care legislation, Obama’s tax compromise which Randi appears to love, Hal Sparks has praised, and Stephanie refuses to condemn will redistribute what’s left of the middle-class’s wealth to the top as the government becomes more in debt and less able to avoid being drowned in the bathtub.  The biggest losers are the poor.  Given this history, it is difficult to take seriously claims that the President is a friend to the American middle and working classes.  Even more improbable is any assertion that he is a liberal or a friend to liberals.

Still, this President is certainly better than any Republican would be and his two appointments to the Supreme Court – especially Sonia Sotomayor – have been quite good so shouldn’t we hold our collective liberal nose and present a united front in support of him as Randi, Stephanie, and Hal Sparks condescendingly urge us to do.  After all, we don’t want to help the Republican Presidential candidate in 2012 do we?  We don’t. But defending Obama at every turn is not a solution.

First of all, our criticisms aren’t why the Democrats lost ground in the last election.  It was the defection of independents who had supported Obama in 2008 that turned the House red.  Liberals voted in about the same numbers and for democrats as we did two years ago.  Independents whose economic circumstances have either worsened or remained precarious jumped the democratic ship.  These self-described moderates certainly weren’t put off by disenchanted liberals, angry labor leaders, or disappointed gay activists.  Instead, a very weak economy, a President who did not appear to be fighting to bring back American jobs, a media cowed by the right wing, and enormous corporate funds liberated by the Supreme Court to broadcast lies about democratic candidates did the job.

More importantly, if we on the left do not challenge Obama when he bends his knee to corporate interests and right-wing extremists then the meme that Obama is a liberal will be enshrined in our political zeitgeist.  This outcome would damage liberals for generations because Obama’s consistent compromises are damaging our country and will prevent a true recovery and middle class renaissance.  Why should moderates and the politically inastute believe anything we liberals say if we champion a President whose policies are not effective?

In order to maintain credibility and to demonstrate that we do know what we are talking about, we must loudly condemn tax cuts for the rich, free trade agreements, and health care reform bills that do not reform the system.  What we cannot do is line up in support of a President who praises conservatives and claims that working with corporatists, theocrats, and militarists can move our country forward.

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12 Responses to Why I Challenge the Obama Apologists

  1. Maggie says:

    Hi Hal:

    My compliments on a thought-provoking, elegantly composed essay. Your conclusions are my own. Thanks for speaking out for those of us who are less articulate. Keep up the good work!

  2. peter says:

    No other choice Hal, no other choice. BRAVO!

  3. Denica says:

    Randi’s audience must be even more “center” than I thought > I was in her chat room when the show was hosted by Nicole Sandler (what day?) and there was someone telling me that the poor Americans are whining and that I was just listening to negative Republican spin about the tax deal. (Which was a huge win for THEM!) I was saddened that such a media-created reality would be mopped up by people who consider themselves progressives.
    I thoroughly enjoy Hal S. and Stephie myself, despite their callow (or just falsely optimistic) approach. I think they are funny, and being comedians, that is the point? I don’t think Hal G. has a sense of humor that I have seen? :) That makes comedy hard to like, lol HAL! j/k
    Having said all of that, we do need real progressives on the air – and different voices to add to our choir of critical thinking. I feel there is a real generation gap when it comes to issues of feminism and race even amongst the progressive community. I have said that I salute the office of the Presidency and hope that we can restore that office to it’s intended glory by acting in an honorable way as a country/ people. Nice post!

    • Sandra says:

      Poor Americans could give a shit about progressive radio or their hosts. Obama is a disaster for working people and especially for working people of color!

  4. sheila bateman says:

    i think what we have is the best that can be expected under the circumstances as unfortunate as that may be. people just didn’t vote allowing the republicans to win the house. i hope people wake up before 2012 and re-elect obama especially because of the supreme court and VOTE!!!!!!!!

  5. cris says:

    I, as a true progressive, am way over to the left… only time a progressive would even listen to a moderate would be on a much more minor issue than life and death. And by the way, I am going on 86 years old.

    • cris says:

      I, as a true progressive, am way over to the left… only time a true progressive would even listen to a moderate would be on a much more minor issue than life and death. And by the way, I am going on 86 years old.

  6. BigGuy says:

    Our criticisms aren’t why we Democrats lost control of Congress in November, 2010. Potential voters, who agree with us, who did not vote are why we lost. 75 million people voted in 2010; 120 million in 2008.

  7. Walt Oicle says:

    Obama was elected on the basis of his suggestion of change, without many specific promises, so he could appear to be whatever we wanted him to be with few later examples of broken promises. However, this week marks one year past the time he promised to close Guantanamo, there are still more than 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq in several permanent bases, he continues to expand the unwinnable Afghanistan quagmire, wasting lives and money, and has filled the White House with Wall Street corporatists.

    I am willing to allow that he has merely been misguided and needs to hear from the rest of us. To that end, I agree with Daniel Ellsberg and Chris Hedges, who were arrested in front of the White House with 124 others last month. We need to organize more mass demonstrations to be sure he becomes undeniably aware of what the rest of us think. More than sixty people rallied in Santa Cruz in support of Bradley Manning and Wikileaks yesterday, and there will be more in the near future. Come to the next rally and let your voice be heard! Let’s get our feet on the street for real change!

  8. Eugene says:

    I think the working blacks along with the working whites better wake up real fast because the illegals from across the border are slipping in under our noses and taking our jobs from us without any of us even realizing it. How stupid can we all be! It’s been happening for several yrs. and it is now ramping up and we just can’t see it being done under our noses! We just can’t be this stupid and blind, OR are we?!

  9. Andrew Ryback says:

    A very good article. I whole heartedly agree with you. Obama with all of his backtracking and broken promises has effectively neutralized and demoralized opposition to the right wing and neo-Nazis in the USA. In short, he is a huge disappointment to many who thought that he just might do the right thing. For one, I have lost all of my respect for him and I don’t think he’s as bright as others make him out to be.

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