Mr. President, Fight!

[babylonsister]

Now Fight!
Andrew Sullivan



The seismic events of the last few days ends, in some respects, the phony war of the first year of Obama's presidency. As is the case in truly fracturing democracies, the opposition simply does not and cannot accept the fact that it is out of power. The incoherence of the opposition to Obama - that he is both Jimmy Carter and Adolf Hitler, as Stephen Colbert pointed out last night - reveals the irrationality of the hate. It began immediately on the FNC/RNC right. And the ferocity of the campaign against Obama, the sheer dickishness of the GOP and its acolytes, the total oppositionism to everything he has done and indeed anything he might do... suggests that any hope for some kind of cooperation from this rump is impossible.

But the truth is that these forces have also been so passionate, so extreme, and so energized that in a country reeling from a recession, the narrative - a false, paranoid, nutty narrative - has taken root in the minds of some independents. Obama, under-estimating the extremism of his opponents, has focused on actually addressing the problems we face. And the rest of us, crucially, have sat back and watched and complained and carped when we didn't get everything we want. We can keep on carping if we want to. But it seems to me that continuing that - as HuffPo et al. appear to be doing - is objectively siding with the forces of profound reaction right now.

Don't get me wrong. Criticism is still vital. I'm not going to give up on advocating marriage equality or a carbon tax, rather than cap and trade, or for an independent investigation of Bush era war crimes. I think pushing Obama to a more populist position on banks is well and good. But given the alternative, I am going to step up my support of this president in the face of what he is confronting, even when he is not exactly doing everything I want. In my view, you should too.

Look at what we are facing right now: a take-no-prisoners right, empowered by a massive new wave of corporate money unleashed by the Supreme Court, able to wield a 41 seat minority to oppose anything Obama wants, setting up a cycle of failure for a president whom they can then pillory at the polls, and unrepentant about near-dictatorial powers for the presidency, and the routinization of torture in the American government. These forces cannot be appeased. They simply have to be confronted.

I do not believe in some massive turn left or faux-populism that Obama cannot characterologically embody. I do not think ramming the healthcare reform bill through before Brown is seated is good politics. I still believe that Obama should embrace a major assault on long-term debt and make that a center-piece of his SOTU next week.

But I have come around to thinking that the one huge mistake right now would be to surrender the Senate health reform bill.

The dust should indeed settle. But it is absurd that one special election should upend a clear campaign promise, a year of work, and a necessary start on a critical reform without which we hurtle toward bankruptcy even more quickly.

More to the point, politics is also about morale and will as well as reason and moderation. I believe Obama has been both reasoned and moderate and civil in navigating between the Democratic Congress and the embittered, mutinous GOP. I don't think his tone should change. But I do think that any surrender on health now would be a betrayal of his entire campaign. I don't think the Senate bill is perfect; but it's far far better than nothing. And not passing it means not passing anything and surrendering to forces that are as proto-fascist as any we have seen in recent times.

more...

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/01/now-fight.html

[DJ13]

1. So now the meme is they must pass the Senate HCR to save face?

No matter how crappy, how much its an insurance company welfare program that burdens the middle class, victory is all that matters?

[babylonsister]

5. You may get your wish, and then watch what you've been championing.

It won't be pretty and you will have been a part of it. So preemptively slap yourself on the back and watch a nightmare unfold.

And again, you must have great health care and no pre-existing conditions. Aren't you lucky. :eyes:

[DJ13]

7. you must have great health care and no pre-existing conditions.

Actually, I dont have any healthcare beyond Medicare Part A, and Im disabled from an accident 11 years ago.

Im thinking of others, something partisans dont seem capable of.

[unapatriciated]

11. I had great health care insurance and Ca passed some pretty tough laws in the early '90s

It still didn't stop my insurance company from denying, reviewing my son's claims until I was left jobless, forced to sell our home (material things I could work at regaining) and crippling of my child (can't get my son's health back no matter how hard I work).
The insurance industry was allowed input on those laws and this created the loop-holes they needed.
I see the same mistakes in the senate bill and do not wish to continue funneling money to the insurance corporations and away from health care.
Some of us who see these loop-holes do have great insurance and still are not very lucky.
I want better than that for my grandchildren.

[asdjrocky]

2. He is fighting.

He's just not going to fight for the working people and the poor. His friends are the banks.

Look at someones actions, not the rhetoric.

[boppers]

3. He's fighting nuts from all sides.

Part of the problem of being a reasonable person is that forces of unreason are shrill, and fight hard.

[azmouse]

4. Thank you for posting this.

We all need to step up the fight. Complaining and whining isn't getting this country anywhere.

[Armstead]

9. Maybe if they'd stop fighting their own progressive/liberal base they'd get somewhere /nt

[treestar]

6. Back up from the voters

Rather than constant criticism and whining, would be nice.

some pressure on Brown and Lieberman from the voters might help, rather than just helplessly expecting the President to somehow fight politicians mean to have contrary power.

[Armstead]

10. If there were less criticism and whining ABOUT a base of voters, there'd be more back-up

So we're all supposed to just shut up and blindly follow whatever the democratic elite tell us to do?

There is a difference between "whining" and trying to offer constructive criticisms.

Even Obama is more reasonable than some cheerleaders. At least he acknowledges that he got oput of touch and needs to make some changes in his approach.

[CreekDog]

8. Babylon, I like what you've been posting

:hi:

I hope we get through to him. :)

[Atticus]

12. Agree 100% with your post! Now is not the time for Democrats, or liberals, or progressives, or

ANYONE interested in the welfare of this nation and its people to do anything but support our president, Barack Hussein Obama.

We have had our differences on this board but, save for the handful of trolls and true anarchists, we ALL likely agree on 99% of the goals we'd like to see our country achieve. Understandably, we differ as to HOW these goals should be pursued. But,---THESE ARE MINOR DIFFERENCES when we compare them to the GULF that separates any and all of us from the conservative extremists who have either stolen or purchased control over our lives and our children's futures that is totally out of proportion to their actual support or numbers.

Anyone---and I was not one of them---who had even been considering sitting out the 2010 or 2012 elections need only consider the reality of the recent SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FEC to see the results of liberal apathy and misguided "bipartisanship". Roberts and Alito, who lied through their teeth at their confirmation hearings when they said that "of course" they'd respect precedents, were the linchpins of this catastrophic opinion. They were not filibustered, despite alarms raised by many in the legal community. They were products of the Heritage Foundation's legal "farm team system" and had been groomed for years to be part of an ACTIVIST---no denying it now---Supreme Court that would give legal cover for the slow-motion plutocratic coup that began with Reagan.

He's MY president! He's YOUR president. Now is the time for all who detested what Bush and Cheney did to us for eight years to stand shoulder to shoulder and FIGHT these fascist bastards!

And, yes, I said "fascist". Inflammatory? Over the top?"

Look it up: one of the synonyms is "corporatist". Does anyone STILL think that isn't where we're at?

Thanks, babylonsister, for a timely post.