Having been away a month now most of my news about the US has come from the Internet. I've regularly checked my favorite progressive web sites and I try to read the Washington Post regularly to get an idea what the "mainstream media" is saying. The issue that has fascinated me most while I have been away is Obama and health care.
I watched Obama move from the "public option" to now crawling into bed with the insurance corporations and leaving the public option far behind, just as he previously did with single-payer health care.
My early reading of Obama is turning out to be pretty accurate. He will not stand up to the corporations on any issue and fight on behalf of the American people. He is betraying the legions of progressive voters who put him into office who thought they were voting for "hope and change".
On this trip I've been asked many times about Obama as you would imagine. My response is: George W. Bush was a bad cowboy. Obama is a good cowboy, but still a cowboy. He is an agent of the corporations. I usually get a good laugh with this one.
Now that Obama has betrayed those on the "left" that voted for him, he is dropping steadily in the polls. He is losing his base. His base will not stand with him as he brazenly crawls into the sack with the corporations. The independents who voted for him will see that he is just another "say one thing, but do another politician" and they will abandon him. The right, of course, will never support him - except when he is pushing endless war.
So Obama, almost nine months into the job, has proven to be just another Democratic Party corporate hack - posing as a progressive to get elected and then bailing out once in office.
At this rate Mr. "hope and change" can count on being a one-term president.
Are you ready yet to talk third party?
Your assertion that Obama is losing his base is incorrect. He is standing loyally by his base as he will always do. The problem is that you think that progressive/liberal voters are or were his base. They were not. The ruling class is Obama's base. To him, and the vast majority of other politicians, that base is the only one that matters.
ReplyDeleteConsider Bush and the "Christian Conservative movement" of the early 21st century. They largely got him elected, but as far as advancing his agenda, they were left out to dry (no gay marriage amendment, no prayer in schools federal push, etc) - even the faith-based initiatives largely fed Bush's corporate interests.
Having hope for another Republican or Democrat is just as silly as having hope in the last Republican or Democrat. Follow the money - they're all alike regardless of which of those two parties they're aligned with.
If you're interested in some real change - change AWAY from corporate fascism - check out the Libertarian Party. A vastly smaller government is the only one that will not be used and abused by the ruling class elites.