Robert Reich: 'Don’t be silenced by Dems who say by doing so we’ll jeopardize Obama's Re-election'

[kpete]

The Election of 2012: Why the Most Important Issues May Be Off the Table (But Should Be On It)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

We’re on the cusp of the 2012 election. What will it be about? It seems reasonably certain President Obama will be confronted by a putative Republican candidate who:

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Within these narrow confines progressive ideas won’t get an airing. Even though poverty and unemployment will almost surely stay sky-high, wages will stagnate or continue to fall, inequality will widen, and deficit hawks will create an indelible (and false) impression that the nation can’t afford to do much about any of it – proposals to reverse these trends are unlikely to be heard.

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That’s why I urge you to speak out about them – at town halls, candidate forums, and public events. Continue to mobilize and organize around them. Talk with your local media about them. Use social media to get the truth out.

Don’t be silenced by Democrats who say by doing so we’ll jeopardize the President’s re-election. If anything we’ll be painting him as more of a centrist than Republicans want the public to believe. And we’ll be preserving the possibility (however faint) of a progressive agenda if he’s reelected.

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Most importantly, by continuing to push and prod we give hope to countless Americans on the verge of giving up. We give back to them the courage of their own convictions, and thereby lay the groundwork for a future progressive agenda — to take back America from the privileged and powerful, and restore broad-based prosperity.

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MORE:
http://robertreich.org/post/10292950339

[Honeycombe8]

1. Good post. It bears repeating...to keep bringing these subjects up & not letting the media...

forget. Often lately I hear all these pundits & politicians on Tv talking..blah blah blah blah. They drone on, sometimes discussing important and pressing issues. I rarely hear them mention the alarming poverty rate in our country now, or jobs, except in the political sense.

[Autumn]

2. That's the worst part about this whole thing.

What desperately needs to be addressed will not be mentioned.:(

[ixion]

3. big k/r

[kentuck]

4. I have to agree...

kick

[treestar]

5. What is "being silenced?"

It can't happen in America, so why is there whining about it? Makes it look like the person is claiming victimhood where there is none.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. If you don't think bully behavior can intimidate people in America

you are really living in a bubble. Example, in most States, it is legal to fire a person or evict them, or deny housing or employment to a person simply for being GLBT. So if they do not remain silent, they can not eat or sleep under a roof.
So he is most certainly correct when he uses that word.

[treestar]

10. How is that legal?

If one signs a lease, the terms of the lease prevail.

[sudopod]

11. Delaware is more civilized than many places in the nation, treestar. nt

[WillyT]

6. K & R !!!

:kick:

[frazzled]

7. Since he was unable to be heard in the Clinton administration ...

perhaps he thinks , this time, it will work from the outside? Just wondering, because it sounds like Part II of "Locked in the Cabinet." From a review:

Locked in the Cabinet is Reich's appealing, yet ultimately disheartening, memoir of what the idealistic economist endured between his arrival in Washington and his resignation four years later. Determined to improve working conditions and raise the minimum wage, Reich ran into a series of brick walls: a government he felt was obsessed with balancing the budget at the expense of social welfare; politicians more interested in placating Wall Street than in addressing the concerns of the middle and working classes; and a Byzantine system of influence and power that controlled and curtailed his access to the President.

Throughout his readable, informative, evenhanded book, Reich is temperate in his criticism of Clinton, yet he shows us a leader increasingly distracted and unwilling to fight for his beliefs and who (as the 1996 election approached) seemed to be gravitating "toward a black hole whose pull is overwhelming...The black hole is Dick Morris."

By the time Reich decided to return to teaching and a life that would permit him more time with family, he had come to a sobering conclusion: The realities of governmental politics can diffuse and eventually defeat the most idealistic intentions.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20122345,00.html

Plus ça change? But Robert Reich apparently "gave up" before, leaving his post as Labor Secretary (unless he was fired, I guess, which we'll never know).

[lsewpershad]

9. Thanks

We all need to be reminded.

[mod mom]

12. If only BO would have added Robert Reich & Paul Krugman to his administration.

[Claudia Jones]

13. Thanks

More dissent and criticism from the left means more interest from the public. More interest means more participation. More participation means more voting. More voting means higher likelihood of success for the Democratic party.

[gulliver]

14. Not really

The fact that some "Progressives who feel others want to silence them" use their copious, copious non-silence to attack Obama does help him somewhat. Avowed Marxists who despise Obama and are loud about it, for example, probably help Obama. The Dem party should even run an ad, "Marxists hate us. Great."

Unfortunately, Reich is not a Marxist. He has some credibility, so the things he has to say aren't usually considered ridiculous. Reich is more like the kid at the dinner table who says Grandma's new pickled spinach casserole sucks, and, besides, he heard her "cut one." Everyone already knows. The adults just point out that the roast is good (although they might have preferred duck with cherry sauce) and the apple pie is a dream (although they might have preferred strawberry torts).

In the end, if everyone just complained all the time, it could become almost as depressing as it is tedious. So it is funny to see Reich suggest he is giving "hope to countless Americans on the verge of giving up."

[Bluebear]

15. Blech

[Skidmore]

17. Every time I hear Reich shaking his fist and railing to the heavens I think of

NAFTA and statements like this one as recently as 2006:

"The rising tide will lift us regardless of where the headquarters of the global company is," said Reich. "NAFTA did not result in a gain or loss of jobs—just a new allocation of jobs. What matters is the value that we are able to add to a global supply chain."


http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/Reich-to-IT-Dont-Fear-Globalization/

Reich decides to butter his bread on the other side and suddenly hailing him as a genius rather than an opportunist.

[mmonk]

19. Maybe he found out the fears of job losses was actually reality.

[mmonk]

16. I'm not. But its hard sometimes to be called a radical by both sides.

It's hard to be told daily what is possible and what is not. One can easily slide into inaction and cynicism.

[mfcorey1]

18. Screw reich!

[Bluebear]

20. Screw you

No respect for anyone.

[mfcorey1]

26. No thank you! LOL

[Bluebear]

21. .

[Joe Fields]

22. I won't be silenced...

[gkhouston]

23. If Obama can't handle criticism from his own party, how's he going

cope with attack ads from the other side?

[tgal]

24. Those "Dems" aka Corporate right wing tools

are jeopardizing my very existence.

Fuck them.

I will never shut up.

[bvar22]

25. I agree.

That is ONE reason I support a Primary Challenge.
Some important issues WILL get ignored if the entire Political debate occurs within the narrow divide between Centrist Democrats & Republicans.

If there was a Primary Challenge, at least the voice of the traditional FDR/LBJ Democrats would have a chance of being heard on the national stage.

Thats the problem I have with "Centrists".
They agree with Republicans too often,
especially on Economic Policy.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone

photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed

Solidarity!

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