THE NATION: Obama Without Tears

[FourScore]

(edited for copyright purposes-moderator Democratic Underground

Obama Without Tears
William Greider
November 10, 2010

Given the election results, the question Barack Obama has to decide for himself is whether he really wants to be president in the fullest sense. Not a moderator for earnest policy discussions. Not the national cheerleader for hope. Not the worthy visionary describing a distant future. Those qualities are elements in any successful presidency, and Obama applies them with admirable skill and seriousness.

What's missing with this president is power—a strong grasp of the powers he possesses and the willingness to govern the country with them. During the past two years, this missing quality has been consistently obvious in his rhetoric and substantive policy positions. There is a cloying Boy Scout quality in his style of leadership—the troop leader urging boys to work together on their merit badges—and none of the pigheaded stubbornness of his "I am the decider" predecessor, nor the hard steel of Lyndon Johnson or the guile of Richard Nixon...

(snip)

...A friend and longtime warrior for liberal reforms described what unfolded in harsh but accurate terms: "First he was rolled by the bankers, then he was rolled by the generals, then he was rolled by the Blue Dogs and other Democrats who had no interest in going along with what he proposed." Obama seemed exceedingly tolerant of resisting forces and even cooperated with them. Or maybe he privately agreed with them. He never made it clear...

(snip)

...Republicans, who are masters of deceptive marketing, seized on Obama's most appealing qualities and turned them upside down. Their propaganda cast him not as soft but as a power-mad (black) leftist, destroying democracy with socialist schemes. The portrait was so ludicrous and mendacious, the president's party hardly bothered to respond. Egged on by the Republican Party and Fox News, right-wing frothers conjured sicko fantasies and extreme accusations: the president is not only a black man (bad enough for the party of the white South); he is not even American. The vindictive GOP strategy is racial McCarthyism, demonizing this honorable man as an alien threat, just as cold war Republicans depicted left-liberal Democrats as commie sympathizers...

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE AT: http://www.thenation.com/article/156384/obama-without-tears

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[roguevalley]

11. R times ten zillion

[Matariki]

2. My main argument against Obama in the primaries was his relative inexperience.

I really liked him though and was happy when he won.

However, I'm starting to think again about that inexperience. I'm wondering if he wouldn't have made a better president after serving a bit longer in the Senate and/or as Vice President. I don't think he's found his stride in some ways or figured out the power brokerage necessary in Washington. Trying to rely on compromise isn't serving him that well.

[senseandsensibility]

15. I agree

I have had similar thoughts lately. I wish I could express them as fair mindedly as you.

[cilla4progress]

30. This has occurred to me, as well.

I think we saw in him what we wanted to see in ourselves. I think he brought in the insiders because he didn't have confidence in his own experience, and wanted to counter that criticism. This led to Summers, Emmanual - those who absolutely don't speak for "hope and change!" After 2 years, I am letting go. I hope he does well and gets re-elected. I hope he rebounds and finds the courage that initially sparked his campaign. I fear for our country. But I can't hold onto every breath any more, obesessing over his ups and downs and critics. As that wise woman said, "I am exhausted of defending him." I am disappointed, but I don't really hold it against him.

[liberation]

34. "I think we saw in him what we wanted to see in ourselves."

Totally agree, but let's be honest: it took two to tango for that to work. He purposefully refused to make it clear where he stood in order to allow many people to project their expectations/leanings. I thought the whole "pragmatism" was a cheap cop-out from having to be held responsible then, and still I feel the same way now. To this day, I have no clue what Mr. Obama and his administration stand for, and I am getting tired of being told to correct what my "lying eyes" are seeing by a lithany of self professed interpreters of the "official tea leaves."

[Javaman]

54. We saw in him what Madison Ave wanted us to see. nt

[mazzarro]

64. Completely Agree With You

He brought in people he thought would balance out his inexperience and, unfortunately, naively let them run the game around him and his campaign pledge. These people he has around him remind me of what Cheney did to Shrub.

[glinda]

32. Remember thought that the Repubs/Teas would put someone totally inexperienced in power.

[juajen]

39. There were plenty of Hillary supporters that told all of you that he

was too inexperienced, hell, there was even a skit on SNL depicting her leading him every step of the way. Blinded by his charisma, we were shouted down. Of course, the plus side of that is that we have a terrific SOS. I wonder what the country will look like in 2012. He would have been great after Hillary and would have had the experience gained by being in the Senate. Too damn late! I hope he pulls it out, I truly do. No Hillary supporter wants him to fail, or at least the ones I know don't, and I pray for him every day. I hate what the right wing is doing to him.

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beacool]

50. Yeah, I know, for some of you anyone who questioned Obama's level of experience HAD to be a racist.

Who else would question why a former state senator who hadn't even served two full years as US senator, before he decided to run for president, should be the nominee of his party during one of the worst economic times in the nation?

Yep, it must have been because he was part AA...........

:crazy:

[Beacool]

52. Heck, I've been saying it for 3 years.

But you're wasting your breath. Those who bought into his vague speeches about "hope & change" are not going to accept that it was all B.S. that politicians say on campaigns. Lack of experience and hubris will sooner or later bite a person in the butt.

What did he tell AR Rep. Berry when he warned him a year ago that things were starting to look like 1994 (Berry had been in the Clinton WH at the time)? Obama's response was that the difference between 1994 and now was that we had him. Well, that worked out just great, didn't it? The Democrats lost the most House seats since 1938. If I wasn't so ticked off about it, I would be laughing.

Bottom line, EXPERIENCE DOES MATTER!!!

:eyes:

[dionysus]

69. now Bea, play nice...

;)

[Beacool]

76. I have been biting my tongue for months now.

:P





:pals:

[dionysus]

78. but if you're good i might have something for you....

;)

[Beacool]

79. Well, you know what Mae West used to say.........

"When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better."

:evilgrin:

[dionysus]

81. you're incorrigible. here, take it;

:hi:

[Beacool]

82. Banky!!!

:woohoo:



Who loves you, baby......

:hug:

[tinrobot]

63. I always said that at least Hillary knew where the bodies were buried

But I supported Obama mostly because I was pissed at Hillary for using McCain in that ad against Obama.

[pattmarty]

73. You know when I finally made up my mind? It was when Bill went to............

.......South Carolina (I think that was where, but somewhere in the south) and made what I (and a lot of others) thought to be a somewhat racist statement. That decided it for me, I then was all out Obama, where before I hadn't made up my mind between him and Hillary.

[Beacool]

77. He was only responding to a reporter's question.

If anything, the race card was played against the Clintons. Even that jerk Dick Morris, who despises both Clintons, has said that Bill was the least racist candidate he worked for. While Obama pretended to stay above the fray, his campaign put out a memo that was sent to the media enumerating all the supposed racial remarks made by the Clintons. The same memo that Russert waved at Obama in one of the debates.

Obama is slick alright, and so were his handlers, but governing is a total different ball game and B.S. will only get you so far.

As opposed to you, the day his campaign played the race card is the day he permanently lost me.

:shrug:

[butterfly77]

40. So bush had a multitude of experience ...

on being President?

[Divernan]

41. Bush was the puppet of former pres/father & VP Chaney & all their men

They delivered to their base, which re-elected him to a second term. Obama brought us Rahm Emanuel & that press secretary hack Gibbs to attack his own base. Second term for him? The odds are poor and worsening.

As someone with a bachelor's, master's and J.D. degrees, and who has worked in a volunteer capacity for the Democratic Party since 1962, I was and remain deeply and bitterly offended at being called effin' retarded by that egomaniac, Emanuel, who exerted extreme influence over Obama, while retaining dual citizenship with Israel.

[butterfly77]

47. Nobody has the experience but..

all of the same people who have been running everything since the 40,50, and 60's the retreads with the same old policies and their offspring.

They want to make sure that certain people in the whitehouse and this is why Scar and David Gergen keep harping on putting some republicons in his cabinet. They keep complaining about which republicons Obama did or didn't invite to the whitehouse.

What does he need to discuss with repubs they have been on tv for decades repeating the same old bullshit. How many Dems did Bush invite and were they mainly bluedogs and did he dictate what he wanted done instead of listening like our President does.

Now,concerning Rahm,I could give less than a damn about your likes or dislikes I am talking about Bush...

[pattmarty]

74. Agree.

[mazzarro]

65. Shrub Was Manipulated Too!

Just as the so called "experienced" advisers and assistants seem to be making Obama look worse and worse everyday! This manifest in his inability to stand and fight for any democratic party principles - or maybe he is a closet DLCer.

[alarimer]

48. I am not sure it's inexperience that's the problem here.

Maybe a certain naivete, in that he expects Republicans to actually compromise on something, when, in fact, it is ALWAYS the Democrats who compromise, usually by throwing the more progressive parts of any bill away.

I think he is simply not enough of a fighter.

[Marr]

68. The problem isn't experience-- it's ideology.

Obama is center right. That's all you need to know. He doesn't fight for the things you believe in because he doesn't believe in them. It's that simple.

[tularetom]

3. Surely he realizes this by now, huh?

If he doesn't start acting on it soon, he may find himself trying to compromise with a congress that deliberates his impeachment.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cbayer]

5. FourScore -

Please be aware that our rules restrict the reprinting of copyrighted material to four paragraphs or less with a link.

Thanks,

cbayer
DU Moderator

[laughingliberal]

6. K & R nt

[ThomCat]

7. "First he was rolled by the bankers, then he was rolled by

the generals, then he was rolled by the Blue Dogs and other Democrats who had no interest in going along with what he proposed."

And that is how we all got screwed! We got a timid and weak president who bashes the left, goes to court to fight Against the LGBT community he claims he's helping, and never saw a proposal he can't compromise even before the negotiations have begun. :(

He's good at making people like him. Hell, he's got a lot of people who verge on worshiping him, but he can't seem to get anything done either completely or well.

[ProSense]

9. It's at that point it become hyperbolic

"rolled by the Blue Dogs "

The blue dogs mostly voted against the President's agenda, and in the process suffered massive losses in the last election.

With more than 50 blue dogs in the House, Pelosi couldn't have passed a bill without some support from blue dogs.

[ProSense]

8. I'm sure the President knows how to play hardball,

he needs to figure out how to create the public perception that he does.

Still, there are some interesting points.

<...>

Even Obama supporters began to ask, Where is the fight in the man? Some critics blame a lack of courage, but that neglects the extraordinary nerve Obama displayed in his rise to the White House—a young black man with an unusual name and limited experience who triumphed through his audacity. Obama's governing style is a function of his biography—a man who grew up always in the middle, both black and white. He succeeded by learning rare skills, the ability to bridge different worlds comfortably and draw people together across racial, political and intellectual divides. He learned to charm and disarm, not to smash and conquer.

<...>

Popular forces can blow away the fuzziness. They can mobilize to demonstrate visible support for the president's loftier goals and to warn him off the temptation to pursue a Clintonesque appeasement of the right. Given the fragile status of his presidency, Obama needs to know that caving in is sure to encourage enemies and drive off disheartened supporters. People should, likewise, call out the president's enemies and attack them with the harshness that's out of character for him. The racial McCarthyism of the GOP establishment is a good place to start.

<...>

Spot on.

[bigtree]

10. you couldn't sell that part here on its own

not hypercritical enough to satisfy the animus.

[ProudDad]

23. "figure out how to create the public perception that he does."

succeed at doing something really Progressive something positive for working and/or poor people without subsidizing the corporate masters...

And do it without caving in to the repukes before beginning "negotiations" perhaps? :shrug:

[Divernan]

44. He clearly didn't choose to/failed at playing hard ball with the Blue Dogs.

You tell us, who did he play hard ball with? Not Big Banking, not Big Insurance, not Big Pharma, not Big Oil,
etc.

[KoKo]

45. ProSense..the rest: "Stop holding his hand (he's an adult) and start building a people's agenda "

This is the next paragraph after your snip:


"People who still have great hope for Obama can help revive his presidency, but only if they toughen up themselves. Stop holding his hand (he's an adult) and start building a people's agenda that compels the president to change his. Obama won't like this at first—his own supporters talking back—but he can learn to draw strength from their courage. If people fail to step up with their own message, the president will likely fail with his."

[ProSense]

51. Koko "If people fail to step up with their own message, the president will likely fail with his."

I don't think he meant simply complaining. Still, it's interesting that you prefer to divert focus from the point I cited from Greider's piece.

[zipplewrath]

60. They were talking directly to you

"Stop holding his hand (he's an adult) and start building a people's agenda that compels the president to change his."

This sentence was aimed directly at supporters like yourself. I don't think you have yet "heard" it.

[KoKo]

85. How So?

:shrug:

[Javaman]

55. He may know how, but he keeps using a whiffle bat. nt

[mazzarro]

67. Obama Needs To Start Standing For Somethings First

"People should, likewise, call out the president's enemies and attack them with the harshness that's out of character for him. The racial McCarthyism of the GOP establishment is a good place to start."

His supporters cannot be left in a lurch to fight on his behalf if he is not ready to take some principled stand publicly and as often as necessary.

[sabrina 1]

80. Well, I think most people on the left have been doing that for years.

Not sure that we need to be reminded of it. After all the ultimate calling out was working as hard as we did to throw them all out of office and elect Democrats, who then instantly decided to bring them back into the fold restoring to them, power the people took away.

If ever there was a time for partisanship, it was in January, 2009. The people had spoken, the Republicans had destroyed the economy, dragged this country into two unnecessary wars, and divided the country in two for almost eight long, miserable years.

What was needed then was a party that knew how to use the power the people had given them. Instead we got bi-partisanship, Republicans being asked for advice! Republican ideas being included in decision-making, Republicans being placed or kept in places of power.

That was the time to keep them and their ideas on the defensive, NOT treat them as if they had any legitimacy. They left the country in ruins, what sane person asks those who have completely failed at their jobs and been fired as a result, for their ideas?

I'm not sure what caused this president to keep reaching across the aisle, to implement Republican ideas in major legislation. As the article says, he has never explained it. Maybe he is more in line with their thinking. He certainly didn't surround himself with progressive Democrats, in his cabinet, his advisory committees. His Deficit Commission was loaded with people who were either the worst kind of Republicans, or DLC pro-business types with only one or two progressives that I know of. These were his decisions as far as we know. And people are judged by the decisions they make.

Of course there is also the possibility that presidents no longer have much power and once they arrive at the WH men in suits sit them down and explain the way things are. But so far, that is merely a theory and therefore we have to assume that Obama did things the way HE wanted them done.

The question now is, will he realize that his way failed, that the people who elected him actually meant to throw out Republicans and their ideas? Will he realize that you have to set goals and go for them without trying to include your enemies, who do not want to be included, they want to defeat you?

We'll see but meantime a lot is on the line and we need a fighter.

[Dyler Turden]

12. Another K&R. Great read.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. The President needs to learn to play handball!

Not this stupid shit:



The real handball:



It's actually a really good aerobic workout, people!

[somone]

14. "Charm and disarm" is for talk show hosts and furniture salesmen, not presidents and rulers

or even middle-management drones in the corporate world.

Obama has to be ruthless - like his enemies.

[Mimosa]

17. True, Somone.

I'd like to see some ruthlessness on our behalf.

[Mimosa]

16. "Republicans, who are masters of deceptive marketing..." How true. n/t

[Strelnikov_]

18. “I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.”

- Lyndon B. Johnson

[alcibiades_mystery]

19. Real bang up liberal President there!

:eyes:

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Javaman]

56. Yeah, the civil rights bill and the great society were such failures.

the man failed miserably at Viet Nam, beyond that, he would have been a great one if he had just pulled out.

[alcibiades_mystery]

59. Yeah, except for that whole little Vietnam thing...

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the play?"

It boggles the mind to think what today's so-called progressives would have done with Lyndon Johnson.

:rofl:

[Javaman]

62. So condemn the man for everything right?

what was that about throwing the baby out with the bath water?

[AlbertCat]

70. the man failed miserably at Viet Nam

Because he listened and trusted what his advisors on 'Nam told him.

Obama has the same problem.... not being served well by his advisors.

[Javaman]

71. That I can agree with...

but like I said to the other response, in regards to LBJ, Just because LBJ colossally fucked up in Viet Nam, doesn't mean I completely condemn him.

He did give us the Civil Rights Bill and the Great Society.

[Strelnikov_]

75. Which included Medicare and Medicade

I was just going to let the post you responded to slide. Just more of the sturm and drang that is overwhelming this site.

My take on LBJ/Vietnam. It was obviously a huge mistake. Thing is, would any President of that era really done anything different. His main failing, in the context of that era, was continuing to paint a much rosier picture than reality on the ground when asking the American people for patience and sacrifice. Tet unraveled the illusion, and he was out.

Yes, he could have went against the conventional wisdom at the time, just as Obama could have regarding Afghanistan. They fell into the same old trap, basically modern day Kerensky's.

[Javaman]

83. Nail on head.

everyone has the answers 20/20 hindsight, but it was a vastly different matter at the time.

people will look at Obama the same way. "why didn't he just pull out?" They will say.

Because now like then, the right wing is screaming bloody hell over trying to create the new paradigm as to what it means to be an American.

Repukes of the 1960's: if you don't hate commies, you ain't no American

Repukes of the 2000's: if you don't hate Muslims, you ain't no American.

the repuke loop of stupidity.

[BlueIris]

20. This is not a leader.

He is not a president. He is a foot soldier. He takes orders. There's no visionary in him. So he's not being "rolled," by anyone or anything, he's doing what they put him in there to do, which is whatever the wealthy and powerful have to have done for them in order to be bribed into accepting the war agenda (read: permanent presence in Afghanistan) he put in place.

[somone]

29. Exactly. The secret deal with Big Pharma is another example

Obama was in an excellent position to AT LEAST get the no-price-negotiation clause taken out of the Bush's Medicare drug bill. That clause is still on the books.

[Skittles]

21. he's got all the qualities of a good president except leadership

that's pretty much what's being said

[deacon]

22. He gave voters too much credit and the GOP treated them like the uninformed sound bite lovers they

are.

[tavalon]

24. This was extremely worthwhile

It coalesced what I've been thinking.

[donheld]

25. With sadness. K & R

I'm very sad it's all gone so incredibly wrong.

[spanone]

26. k&r

[leftstreet]

27. Obama has massive untapped power behind him...The People

His political capital is still strong enough that he only need call on it

K&R

[earcandle]

28. Kinda pitiful he kept the bad policies, instead of the bad attitude to dismantle them.

It would have been nice to see him act powerfully in our best
interest,rather than pay lip service to it. 

[Democat]

31. "his political team from former Senate leader Tom Daschle"

Setting himself up for failure from the start.

[me b zola]

33. recommended

[mzmolly]

36. K

and R.

Excellent and on point!

[jannyk]

37. Rec! nt

[avaistheone1]

38. Rec #100

:kick:

[Fruittree]

43. So now we want "the decider" back or

the Vietnam war expander Johnson or even the totally dishonest Nixon. Interesting... ...

[Democat]

53. No, we want Obama to start fighting and stop giving in.

It's simple.

[Javaman]

57. Well that was a gloved version of...

If you don't like him you must be a repuke, type of argument.

You know better than that.

[MJJP21]

46. Lets hope

Lets hope Obama does not want to be president at this point. The election two weeks ago pretty much seals the fact that he will not get anything done domestically . Even if it cuts the nose off rebublicans they won't give Obama any victories. That leaves only one recourse for Obama to make a splash if he wants a second term. He will focus on world affairs and no doubt push for a showdown with Iran or Korea maybe both.

[spicegal]

49. Very good article...

I have no regrets about voting for Obama, given the alternative. I haven't given up hope, yet. Just like the SNL skit, I want to see him become the Incredible Hulk. I keep wondering was he really so naive as to think that the GOP would ever play nice, given their behavior during the campaign, given their behavior historically. The GOP are all about and always have been experts at political hardball. Does Obama really have the stomach for it? It's almost like he's become paralyzed. He doesn't want to look like the "angry black man" or come across looking too liberal, so ends up standing for nothing.

[highplainsdem]

58. K&R

[City Lights]

61. K&R. nt

[Overseas]

66. K&R -- admire Wm Greider -- look forward to reading later. //nt

[pattmarty]

72. It's fucking (class) war and so far we are getting our asses kicked..............

...........We desperately need some charismatic leaders like were around in the 30's and the 60's. I believe most of us have very similar ideals and ideas on what needs to be done, but have no way of getting together (so far) in a meaningful and consistent way. Let's face it, the Democratic party ain't gonna do it. Look how we laugh at the signs and stupid rhetoric of the teabaggers. At least they're organized, you can argue albeit with "big money" interests, but STILL organized. The left isn't anymore and the way the President and his advisers talked about and finally treated us was an absolute insult.

[madmax]

84. K & R