Now, I don't think Obama has been a bad president, really. But he's been a complete disappointment - not because he's some political rorschach test in which I finally saw my unattainable liberal idealism, but because, as someone who specializes in and has devoted his life to understanding politics, movements and political history, I know what Obama had in January of 2009 and what he has squandered.
I've been unable to really express how i feel about this sentiment and that's why I was so glad to see my buddy Zack Exley, an amazing online and on the ground progressive organizer (who lived in Chapel Hill for years) say it better than I ever could...
Zack Exley:
This site everyone's linking to misses the point. You can't even call it incrementalism (let alone "sweeping change," to quote Obama) if the net change in people's lives is still negative. I remember a white guy in greasy coveralls walking into an Ohio Obama office in October, 2008. He declared, "I don't care if he's got a four foot l...ong red tail, I'm voting for him because I can't take any more of this." Obama's accomplishments haven't added up to a direct impact on that guy's life. He promised sweeping change, he had a mandate for sweeping change, that guy and millions of Americans would have done anything to help him make sweeping change. Instead we got a string of stokes of a pen. And the few things he did fight for, like health care, were confusing compromises that will now be repealed by the GOP anyways. I'm sorry, but if you guys keep spamming me with cheerleading for mediocrity, I gotta say something.
Fucking right, Zack.
1 comment:
I'm hoping that Barack knows he has nothing to lose now. He has absolutely no chance of being re-elected if he doesn't start kicking ass and swinging for the fences. No reason to be tentative now. Even some republicans will respect him if he stops being such a pussy.
Post a Comment