Is It Time to Give Obama A Break? Posted by Michael Cohen

Over the past couple of weeks there has been a great deal of sturm and drang from the left about President Obama for failing to fulfill the promise of his 2008 campaign. Bob Kuttner's claim in the Huffington Post that Obama isn't really a progressive was perhaps the most prominent recent example; but there was also Eric Alterman's cri de couer in the pages of Nation and Glenn Greenwald's regular fulminations at Salon. Today, Politico weighs in. Yet, so many of these criticisms seem deeply misplaced and divorced from the very real constraints on Obama's ability to follow through on his agenda.

What so many of these criticisms ignore is the unprecedented level of GOP obstructionism and collusion from centrist Democrats. What stopped a bigger stimulus from being enacted in 2009? Filibustering Republicans and centrist Democrats. What stopped the public option? Joe Lieberman, centrist Dems and the GOP. What is stopping an extension of unemployment benefits from being passed? The GOP and Ben Nelson. What is stopping climate change legislation from becoming law? Republicans who don't believe in the science of global warming and Democratic Senators from coal and gas producing states. I could go on. 

Those who argue that Obama should have "fought harder" for these unattainable goals are making arguments that lack a very basic understanding of presidential power, particularly in an era when political parties are nowhere near as powerful as they once were.  This is the very nature of domestic legislating. It's not pretty, but it's the system we've got. 

And in fact, what is most aggravating about these assertions is that they tend to ignore the President's shining progressive success - health care reform. Indeed, in an entire op-ed criticizing Obama's progressive credentials, Kuttner mentions health care reform once but offers the back-handed compliment that Obama showed "rare hands-on leadership." You'd think that passing the most important piece of social policy legislation in more than 40 years - and guaranteeing health care coverage for 30 million Americans - would rate a bit higher. Think again.

And the constraints on domestic policy also exist in foreign policy even though on these issues the president has far more latitude. For example, on Afghanistan I think the President made a huge mistake in supporting escalation last December. I continue to believe that he could have resisted the generals, but it would have taken almost all of his political capital to do so . . . at the same time that he was trying to pass health care reform. It's one of the reasons I don't necessarily begrudge his decision to escalate vs. the far worse decision to not demand his generals come up with a better, more realistic strategy for achieving US goals in Afghanistan.

And it wasn't as if liberals gave him a lot of ammunition back in the spring of 2009 or even the summer and fall in resisting the military's COIN fetish. To a large extent, on Afghanistan, the president's hands were tied - tied by his own rhetoric, tied by his own supporters who cheered lustily when he said he would devote more attention to the war in Afghanistan (myself included), tied by a military that organized a crackerjack PR campaign to force his hand, tied by his liberal supporters for failing to push back on the military and tied by an opposition party that cares more about the politics of national security than they do national security policy.

And while it's much harder to defend Obama on his civil liberties and rule of law positions, I hark back to something I wrote in March when word was leaked that KSM would not get a civilian trial after all:

The depressing conclusion to all this is that a good part of our political class isn't really that interested in promoting the rule of law when it comes to dealing with the threat of terrorism.  That so many Americans are willing to go along with this; and that so many politicians are either willing to use the fear of terrorism to abrogate the rule of law (or are unwilling to stand up for it) is not all on Barack Obama. It's on America.

Of course, Obama is not blameless here. He has at times needlessly upset the left; he's failed to make critical appointments to the judiciary and other federal positions; his rhetoric on terrorism has dangerously aped the Bush-era "war on terrorism" narrative; he has failed to take bolder steps on dealing with torture and rule of law issues and in some cases has taken a step back; he perhaps took too long to jettison the post-partisan rhetoric and take on the GOP's know-nothingness and mindless, naked obstructionism. But these critiques only tell a small part of the story.

Instead when you consider how often depraved that opposition is, for example, in opposing economic stimulus for political gain or lying about the impact of proposed legislation or branding any effort to moderate US foreign policy as "weakness" or "surrender" . . . well Obama looks pretty good by comparison.After all American politics is not a zero sum game; it's a competition between two competing forces in which sometimes the lesser of two evils is the better choice.

There is with every president and every leader both good and bad - but in the face of unprecedented political opposition Obama's track record is one that is far more glass full, than glass empty. Indeed I would argue it's about three-quarters full.

Maybe it's about time that the left (myself included) gave Obama a break . . . and aim their broadsides at the real enemy of progressivism and good governance in this country. Or perhaps we can continue to dump all over Obama and then sit around and wonder in 2013 how Mitt Romney got elected President.

Comments

[John B.]

Barack Obama was dealt one of the worst hands any incoming president has ever gotten. Two ill-conceived and poorly-executed wars. A financial crisis and severe recession that owe as much to the Republicans'zeal for unregulated markets as to anything else. A huge deficit and national debt. Unsustainable health care spending by the government. I could go on. Obama is in no way responsible for any of these things. He has done the best he could with the cards he was dealt, and so far hasn't had much success, economy-wise. Do Alterman, Kuttner, et al, have a formula for how long it should take to recover from a deep recession? Do they think we'd be better off today if McCain and Palin had been elected in 2008?

[Duncan Kinder]

Or perhaps we can continue to dump all over Obama and then sit around and wonder in 2013 how Mitt Romney got elected President.

Poor Obama.

He's worked so hard to be "bipartisan" that it's hard to say how a Mitt Romney presidency would be any different.

And with the decline in the book publishing business, there won't any book deal in it for him.

He will have sold out the Democrats for nothing.

[Dan Kervick]

Those who argue that Obama should have "fought harder" for these unattainable goals are making arguments that lack a very basic understanding of presidential power, particularly in an era when political parties are nowhere near as powerful as they once were. This is the very nature of domestic legislating.

I'm sorry, but I think it is you who lack an understanding of Presidential power Michael. The Silent Obama has exercised extremely weak public leadership, and thus he has empowered his enemies, failed to move public opinion as needed and even helped build a defeated rag-tag mob of chowder-headed wingnut buffoons into an estimable political opposition movement, all while undermining progressive morale and shaving away independent support at every turn.

Obama still seems to think he is a Senator, exercising whatever influence he has through backroom maneuvering. He does not seem to understand or accept the role of the President in setting and pushing a national agenda, and in mobilizing the public support needed to do it.

As we have seen just recently, public opinion is extraordinarily fickle and malleable. A couple of weeks ago the media-absorbing public was sure that the deficit was our biggest problem, thanks to the right-wing wind machine. Now they seem sure, after being treated to some contrary media messages, but no thanks to Obama and Co., that jobs and economic under-performance are our biggest problem. Had Obama recognized the malleability of public opinion, and worked more forcefully to influence it, we could have had a much more progressive outcome over the past year and a half.

Obama had dream majorities in the House and Senate, and came in with a resounding election victory. All he needed to do was move a small number Republican and Blue Dog votes for each step. And this is something he could easily have done if he knew how to educate and move the public, and mobilize public anger for his own aganda. Obama could have struck early and often to build his own "tea party" - an Obama's Army that could have been every bit the equal of the clueless rabble who actually succeeded in stepping up and dominating the public debate in response to the feckless impotence and timidity of the White House.

I used to think Obama was just a coward. But now I think maybe he is perhaps not too bright.

[Dan Kervick]

Maybe it's about time that the left ... aim their broadsides at the real enemy of progressivism and good governance in this country.

And how do we do that? How do we go to war against Republican stupidity without Presidential participation? How do we call our corrupt and insipid Republican demagoguery when the White House's official position is that truth is in the mushy middle and Obama undermines progressive critiques on a daily basis with his "Can't we all get along?" message. You might as well say the left should invade North Korea and depose Kim on their own.

[swatman]

You know the more bickering I hear and the more people claim Obama is "just like Romney" or "Bush" or any other conservative wackjob, the more shuddering flashbacks I get from 2000. You know, when Gore was "just like Bush" so who cared who you voted for, right? Progressives in this country are dangerously naive and delusional if they think that withdrawing from the political process because their little fee-fees are hurt will help anything. You want Obama to be more liberal? Try electing some damn liberals in Congress, especially in places like Nebraska or North Dakota. Try mobilizing instead of bitching on blogs and enacting creative street theater as some form of protest. I never see these so-called progressives doing ANYTHING except bitching. Meanwhile, tea party activists have put together a sophisticated and dangerous social movement that threatens to put American politics on a very demagogic path. Where is the liberal equivalent? If progressives are so truly committed to making this country better (instead of just complaining about right wingers or "DINOs"), where is their equivalent of the Federalist Society in law school education? Their equivalent to the NRA? Their equivalent to Fox News? Their large-scale mobilizing of middle-class anxiety and working class disaffection? Until you build this infrastructure, politicians are going respond to their immediate environment - in this case, who poses the most threat to their agenda. And right now, the greatest threat is the insane right wing, with a hat tip from its apathetic "progressive" allies whose utopian naivete is absolutely astonishing. Sure Obama is part of the issue; sure he "should" have done a bunch of stuff... but he is who we voted for, and, if you remember, a great deal of his appeal was how he told US to do some of the work. You know, yes "We" can. Instead of sitting back and waiting for daddy to turn the US into freaking Sweden overnight, I'd love to see some actual work by people who actually care about this country and its future. Push him, inform him, even threaten his agenda, but do it constructively and do it powerfully. Otherwise shut up, because you are just doing more harm than good.

[Michael Cohen]

I like the Swatman . . .

[burmeh yaza lida fx15 biber hapı ile formda girin]

Sevgili abilerim ablalarım bu durumun neden böyle olduğunu bende bilmiyorum eğer bilen biri varsa bana haber verirse bende çok sevineceğim başarılar.

[burmeh yaza lida fx15 biber hapı ile formda girin]

Ne oldu anlamadım deminki yorumum yayınlanmadı sanırım bu durumda beni çok üzüyoru lütfen hemen yayınlarmısınız.

[swatman]

@Michael Cohen: Thank you... I love this blog btw.

[sophiachen]

I love this blog

[seslisohbet]

of deli oldum nen neden birde yayımlanmii yorum admin aga bu olaya el atsana nen :D

[dixons voucher codes]

remember Obama has disrespected allies, cowered to despots, and failed to even bring the Olympics to Chicago.By seeing all these things I can say I its really time to give him a break.

[Holster45]

Obama had dream majorities in the House and Senate

A dream majority would be one that's in lock step with the prez, right?

[BradyB]

Michael,

You are about two weeks too late with this article. The "The US Presidency is weak" meme already happened and now its time has passed. Although I have to commend you forgoing one step further and actually suggest the Presidency is weak with regard to Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties (a step most commentators weren't willing take due to its shear ridiculousness). I refer you to the definitive take down of this vapid talking point:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/21/obama

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/22/impotence

[erik leaver]

IPS's interim director chimes in with a videonote:

After eight years of being on the outside under Bush, we need to now take advantage of the opportunities now afforded us under Obama, who is allowing progressives more access to power. How do we work with the administration while not succumbing to "Well, at least he's not Bush" or "At least he's letting us in" mentality?

http://www.ips-dc.org/blog/progressives_in_the_age_of_obama

[Geraldo]

Obama on Health Care: "I have rejected a whole bunch of provisions that the left wanted that are - you know, they were very adamant about because I thought it would be too disruptive to the system."

Not because they were bad. Or wrong. Or damaging.

Because he thought it would be disruptive.

Because HE thought it would be disruptive.

Give him a break? Yeah, in 2012.

[Michael Cohen]

Um, last time I checked disruptive can in fact mean bad and damaging. What a silly criticism.

[Geraldo]

Fine, let's ignore his tendency to say things are unsuitable without actually giving a reason for them. We wouldn't really understand the reasons if he did tell us, so let's just skip that.

Let's instead look at the constant barrage of "good news" that comes out of the white house.

"Women's health and rights advocacy groups responded immediately to yesterday's announcement that President Obama would exclude abortion coverage from the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (the temporary high-risk insurance pools created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to transition us into the new health care plan)."

Oh yeah, right. I forgot about all that good news.

[Dom]

Rahm

"And then [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel said to me, “Geez, do you really think we can afford to come in with a package that big, isn’t it going to scare people?” I said, “Rahm, you will need that shock value so that people understand just how serious this problem is.” They wanted to hold it to less than $1 trillion. Then [Pennsylvania Senator Arlen] Specter and the two crown princesses from Maine [Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins] took it down to less than $800 billion. Spread over two and a half years, that’s a hell of a lot of money, but spread over two and a half years in an economy this large, it doesn’t have a lot of fiscal power."

The White House also pitched cutting food stamps to pay for education.

And then there's Summers and Co

Romer had run simulations of the effects of stimulus packages of varying sizes: six hundred billion dollars, eight hundred billion dollars, and $1.2 trillion. The best estimate for the output gap was some two trillion dollars over 2009 and 2010. Because of the multiplier effect, filling that gap didn’t require two trillion dollars of government spending, but Romer’s analysis, deeply informed by her work on the Depression, suggested that the package should probably be more than $1.2 trillion. The memo to Obama, however, detailed only two packages: a five-hundred-and-fifty-billion-dollar stimulus and an eight-hundred-and-ninety-billion-dollar stimulus. Summers did not include Romer’s $1.2-trillion projection. The memo argued that the stimulus should not be used to fill the entire output gap; rather, it was “an insurance package against catastrophic failure.” At the meeting, according to one participant, “there was no serious discussion to going above a trillion dollars.”

And Geithner is pushing back against a possible Elizabeth Warren appointment.
The Democratic leadership doesn't know how to lead, or even how to follow the principles they're supposed to represent. And when they follow it's simply in the form of "regulatory capture" whether it's by the Banksters, the Israel lobby or the military. Obama is Johnson without the Great Society. The fantasy was that Obama was Kennedy as MLK, but he's just the worst of Kennedy. I thought be would be better than that.

[Dan Kervick]

All I know is that I invested over a year and a half of intense political involvement to, first, defeat Hillary Clinton and then, second, defeat the Republican candidate for President. I did work that primarily because I hated and feared the foreign policy positions of Hillary Clinton and the George Bush era Republican Party.

I then woke up a few weeks after the election to find Hillary Clinton in charge of the State Department, and George Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, appointed to the very same position in the Obama administration, where he has continued to pour more money into the bloated defense sector, and help engineer a national security policy that is in all essentials continuous with the Bush policy.

And it has been downhill since there.

[Chris Murphy]

Swatman asks where are the progressive equivalents of the Federalist Society, the NRA, Fox News and the Tea Party and suggests the left merely complains without actually doing anything. But what he fails to note is that all these right wing organizations are funded by massive amounts of cash from corporations and wealthy individuals.

[jacksmith]

I'M PROUD OF YOU LABOR!. Keep standing up. The lives and health of all the American people and the World are in serious jeopardy.

Further, unemployment healthcare benefits are critically needed. But they should be provided through the Medicare program at cost, less the 65% government premium subsidy provided now to private for profit health insurance.

Congress should stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money on private for profit health insurance subsidies. Subsidies that cost the taxpayer 10x as much or more than Medicare does. Private for profit health insurance plans cost more. But provide dangerous and poorer quality patient care.

It's over. Tell congress to get the healthcare Merchants of death and injury out of the American peoples lives for good. 2010 is about THE PUBLIC OPTION!

And that CORRUPT! UNDEMOCRATIC! filibuster must GO! NOW!

Alan Grayson Honors The Dead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV9TRoYMtjs&feature=player_embedded

Alan Grayson on Healthcare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpQ2MNaSDo&feature=player_embedded

Ron Sparks HealthCareReform http://youtu.be/kqlBFRJh4Cw

John Garamendi - The Public Option http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyBTEke68aQ&feature=player_embedded

I want to commend all of you for working so hard and being so strong at helping the whitehouse and congress begin to address our U.S. and Global healthcare crisis. You have been AWESOME! my fellow Americans and peoples of the World. America and the World is better and safer for it. My greatest pride is the knowledge that I am one of you. And that you really get it. You really understand the importance of it all.

There are some potentially very good things in the healthcare legislation. Especially with the reconciliation fix’s. The Democrats, Bernie Sanders and the Whitehouse did a GREAT! job of fighting to produce the best healthcare legislation that they could. They have earned all our strong support. And we should give it to them.

But it was your relentless pressure and hard work that made the difference. Whatever good comes from this healthcare legislation, America and the peoples of the World will have each of you to thank. You were smart, creative, courageous and relentless. You fought together for the best legislation possible. And when you had to, you fought alone. No matter who stumbled and fell you continued to push and forge ahead. Fighting for the lives and health of the American people and the World. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOUR-SELVES :-)

It may come to pass that future generations will look back on us and say that we were ALL Americas Greatest Generations. And that healthcare reform was our finest hour. You should be proud of our leaders President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the many other Democratic and independent fighters for the people in congress. They proved them-self worthy of the leadership of a GREAT! PEOPLE.

But we are not done yet. This was just the beginning of healthcare reform, not the end. WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, ARE NOT! divided on healthcare legislation. The vast majority of you have been consistently crystal clear that this legislation does not go far enough. You want a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE!! available to everyone on day one. And you want it NOW!

YOU MUST NOT ALLOW AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE TO STAND WITHOUT A STRONG GOVERNMENT-RUN PUBLIC OPTION CHOICE! AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.

WE THE PEOPLE have been crystal clear that we want an end to dependence on for-profit healthcare and the for-profit proxies called private for non-profit healthcare. The American people want the CHOICE! of a strong Government-run Public Option to replace their need or dependence on healthcare providers whose primary motivation is profit. Rather than providing the highest quality, easiest accessible and most affordable medically necessary healthcare possible. This is what the rest of the developed World has. And the American people want it too. They want healthcare ASSURANCE! Not, for-profit health insurance. And they want it NOW!

Now is the time to continue the push for a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE! available to everyone that wants it on day one. Rationally it’s clear what we have to do to get this done. SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATS that supported you with a Public Option choice, and REMOVE as many republicans as you can. Not one republican in congress was willing to step across the isle to support a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE!! available to everyone on day one. NOT ONE! Let no candidate prevail this November that does not support a Strong Government-run Public Option.

47,000 AMERICANS die each year from lack of healthcare. 120,000 die from treatable illness that don’t die in other developed countries. Hundreds of thousands of you are dieing from medical accidents in a rush to profit. And Millions of you are injured. Millions more are driven into bankruptcy. All for the privilege of paying two to three times as much as any other people in the developed world for healthcare. HOGWASH!

Additionally, tens of thousands of you and your children were killed and millions sickened and injured from a terror attack with H1N1 (swine flu). Released on the American people and the World by the for-profit healthcare industry. All in an attempt to panic and frighten you into accepting the oxymoronic criminal enterprise of private for-profit healthcare (The most costly, deadly, dangerous, and disgraceful product sold in America). H1N1 is still sickening people and killing them. Especially children, the young and the middle aged. And there will be a third wave. These are the terrorist you need to worry about the most. Even the so-called international terrorist would not do something so INSANE! But greed driven medical profiteers would and did.

Apparently as far as republicans in GOVERNMENT are concerned, YOU! my fellow Americans – CAN JUST DROP DEAD! Including their own family members. Fools!... Hundreds of thousands of you, and possibly millions of you will die from the long-term effects of your infection and poisoning with H1N1.

So my fellow Human Beings. Rest-up, Take good care of the basics (Balanced nutrition, hydration, exercise, rest and POSITIVE emotional supports). Then wade back into the FIGHT! for a strong Government-run Public Option CHOICE! available to everyone on day one. Drug re-importation, Abolishment or strong restrictions on patents for biologic and prescription drugs. And government controlled and negotiated drug and medical cost. You must take back control of your healthcare system from the Medical Industrial Complex. You MUST do it NOW! This is a matter of National and Global security. There can be NO MORE EXCUSES.

God Bless You My Fellow Human Beings. I’m glad to know of you. And proud to be one of you.

See you on the battle field.

Sincerely

jacksmith – WorkingClass :-)