Sure but he was running for office in America.
The first line of that article also says states that the author didn’t agree with anything Hitchens said which should be a giant red flag of someone who isn’t very intelligent or knowledgeable about the world.
(Inb4 someone posts IRAQ!).
It’s important to gain control of the narrative that places the centre somewhere much closer to the libertarian right than the Marxist left.
If you can achieve that you can start to move Overton.
Obama was centre-right. End Of.
3 Likes
You know what Obama was, a failure to the people who though and believed change would happen but instead turned his back on them when he had the most power to help them, you know what we call that, a turn coat.
Lay me out a real world path Obama could have taken. Avoid the impulse to fill it with “wish language” like he could have passed M4A.
Tell me specifically what he should have done given the actual circumstances in which he was president.
1 Like
How about fight?
Instead he took it, said Hey that’s not right while they danced on his soul… How about he took soul & fought like we the poor fight every day for food.
Maybe if he didn’t want to put himself out there he should not have ran for president
I think you’re generally right in this discussion, but I wonder if Obama would have achieved more by using more firebrand surrogates. Perhaps with more humility and insight he could have recognized the limits of his “high road” approach.
2 Likes
This revisionist history of Obama having accomplished nothing progressive is just not supported by the facts in any way.
3 Likes
This is a really good point. He should have outsourced the fire brand stuff far more.
1 Like
Just remember not to strain when you poop.
4 Likes
Obama was the first president to contend with a completely unhinged Fox News, and tried too hard to compromise with dissent via moderation. He realized too late that the new age of partisan media meant Republicans would hate him no matter what, and should have just shoved through the policies we all need. He has explicitly written that one of his biggest regrets is trying to negotiate with others playing in bad faith.
I’m profoundly dissatisfied by the net impact of the Obama presidency and think he should have done more, but I also think it’s worthwhile to practice some empathy for a black dude constantly staring down the barrel of unhinged racists. The guy wanted to play nice, and took too long to adjust when others wouldn’t do the same. He should have been more progressive in general. But he also got screwed by assholes.
ETA: I essentially agree with Mosdef. But we all have the benefit of hindsight re: GOP media radicalization. The derangement feels like it’s been around forever, but it’s relatively new!
6 Likes
Clovis, is your argument that Obama really wanted to do progressive stuff but had to moderate himself because of the anticipated reactions from racists?
His post presidency doesn’t indicate that at all. He has spent his very few public appearances and speeches since then tut tutting at young progressives and working behind the scenes against the progressive movement.
I’m also not sure it’s defensible even if you’re right. He won in 2008 on a platform that included a public option and closing gitmo, and then immediately dropped both of those policies upon taking office. He was elected by people who expected him to fight for those things. If fighting for them damaged his chances at reelection, then he needed to accept that and do it anyway.
Like, there is enormous electoral pressure on all politicians to pursue corporate friendly moderate to conservative positions. We skewer them for doing so all the time because it’s fucking immoral. It’s not like Obama needed the job to support his family. He ran for office and was elected because he wanted to do good things. “Oh, but if I do too many good things I won’t get another term. Better do a few kinda good things and a bunch of bad shit so I can stick around for longer”. Fuck out of here with that.
6 Likes
What does this mean? Like if he passed a public option he might have to hit the multi million dollar speaking circuit in 2013 instead of 2017 and then we wouldn’t have had 4 more years of… what exactly did he do in his second term again?
1 Like
Do we have to practice empathy when Trump bends to the will of a bunch of racists, or is that just for Obama?
1 Like
The ACA radically changed my life for the better so it’s hard for me to say anything negative about Obama. That helped a lot of people, regardless of whether it was the republican option or not progressive enough or whatever. I am disappointed in his post-presidency though.
1 Like
He nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court.
4 Likes
My position is he did a ton of progressive things. I cited them earlier. He didn’t do enough but not out of choice as much as circumstance. He was never going to be extreme left. He never claimed to be. However to pretend he was some kind of right wing sell out is just not supported by any facts.
As for closing gitmo your claim he just dropped it is absolutely false and not based on any evidence.
1 Like
