dagblog - Comments for "The Unfinished Business of the Obama Administration: The Foreclosure Crisis"

Progressives should organize

Peter Schwartz — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:48:49 +0000

In reply to OK, so what to you want to

Progressives should organize and push him--in all the ways available--to do better on a number of fronts that have been discussed here a million times.

It behooves us to elect a progress Congress; otherwise, it will be harder sledding.

OK, so what to you want to

Dan Kervick — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 22:33:39 +0000

In reply to I can't disagree with what

OK, so what to you want to happen after Obama is elected?

I can't disagree with what

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:31:58 +0000

In reply to Huge missed opportunities.

I can't disagree with what you say--particularly, the "vision for change"-- though I tend not to be overly confident about what "could have been, if only...."

I do think that covering 30 million more people, ending pre-existing, caps, etc., will make a big difference to a lot of people. It's actually a big deal.

The Consumer Protection Agency is also doing important work for the little guy.

DADT was important...not prosecuting deportations was, too.

By comparison with the opportunity for BIG change that was there (maybe), these things may not seem very important. But I tend to count the bird in hand more than the five in the bush.

And if the push for big, overarching, game-changing change had flopped or been stopped and he'd ended up with nothing but the good ole college try, there would have been those complaints, too. "Why was he so arrogant to think he could remake the country in his image blah, blah, when he could've had XYZ. Didn't he know that lasting change is incremental? Too bad Teddy died so soon, he knew the art of compromise."

Bush pushed two wars after we'd been attacked on our soil... and he pushed two tax cuts...not nearly as hard as going for the changes needed for full employment. Especially at the beginning before the full measure of the disaster had unfolded, which is the only moment when he had a clear bite at the apple, IMO.

If we had a better candidate...or if progressives, who always claim to know what the right thing to do is in any given moment, had had a way to push Obama to the left...then this dispute might be more important.

Anyway, I don't disagree with the substance of what you say, but still think it's important to ensure Obama is re-elected. If he isn't, we'll be here a year from now wringing our hands about yet another loss. You pocket your gains and keep moving and don't get fooled into thinking that any one election or candidate is going to get it all done. My two cents.

If you consider the mandate

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 08:22:11 +0000

In reply to Huge missed opportunities.

If you consider the mandate that Obama had with the reluctance he had pushing too hard on anything, vs. the non-mandate that Bush had with the vehemence he crammed everything through Congress. Quite striking.

Huge missed opportunities.

Dan Kervick — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 05:21:22 +0000

In reply to Anyone can "pass

Huge missed opportunities. In early 2009, America was ready for major financial system reform. The country was reeling and terrified, and had just seen a massive destruction of household wealth and security. Obama could also have made full employment, retirement security reform, and other pro-social and egalitarian initiatives part of an agenda for change. No dice. We needed a vision of change and all we got from Obama was pining for a return to normalcy. When the Tea Party got active pushing their individualistic and anti-social agenda; there was no competing Obama vision to battle it.

Anyone can "pass

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 03:20:10 +0000

In reply to Anyone can "pass

Anyone can "pass blabbity-blah" as long as they are willing to demand extremely little.

More later, perhaps...

But passing much of this stuff clearly wasn't easy and it didn't come without political costs.

Anyone can "pass

Dan Kervick — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:11:15 +0000

In reply to Well, in fact, being better

Anyone can "pass blabbity-blah" as long as they are willing to demand extremely little. Even J.P. Morgan would have seen seen some kind of face-saving financial reform bill through Congress following the debacle of 2008. The one we have isn't going to shrink our massively bloated financial sector. It didn't keep the bank of Obama's friend Jamie Dimon out of financial trouble. It's not going to prevent another financial crackup. The financial sector is still a den of vampires, draining the life force from the US economy.

When history drops a bomb on you, you don't get points for "moving the ball forward". You're supposed to fight back hard. Obama is the President - not some third down utility back who's done his job if he picks up a yard.

I give him big credit for saving Detroit. That's the only item on the list that wasn't lame.

The stimulus was too small, and then he gave up on progressive economics and became a budget hawk. Roosevelt would have tried again, and again, until he found something that worked - and he would have attacked his enemies all the while for standing in the way. Obama is terrified by his enemes - unless they are in Afghanistan and he can sucker punch them via remote drone.

The order to end the Iraq War was signed by Bush before leaving office. Obama saw that through but expanded another war, intensified a dirty war, and expanded the regime of secrecy, surveillance and authoritarian control that is spreading from Washington across America.

He abandoned the unemployed - decided that wasn't a very big problem. Making sure Peter Peterson got traction on his government-shrinking budget hysteria routine was more important to him. He betrayed the legacy of Roosevelt. Now I've even got sycophantic Democrats telling me Hoover was right all along, and the New Deal was a mistake.

Presidents impress their own psychological imprint on the country they lead. Where the national economic order is concerned, Obama's chief motives are fear, obsequiousness and risk-aversion, and he has spread the stink of his fear and passivity across America, which is why the "progressive movement" is totally paralyzed and we now live in the most conservative, brutal, Social Darwinism era in my lifetime - and since the gilded age. The depressing cloud of can't-do Obama fear that has settled over the country is also why hardly anyone wants to invest in the future. They need someone to answer the question, "What's the plan?" And Obama ain't got one.

And apparently his vanity is such that he feels the need to surround himself with nothings.

Bueno.

LULU — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:43:15 +0000

In reply to If DD hadn't gone mute [hope

Bueno.

If DD hadn't gone mute [hope

artappraiser — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 19:49:22 +0000

In reply to If you are going to fight for

If DD hadn't gone mute [hope he's ok]

He posted over at Once Upon a Paradigm on Monday and put comments on the same thread yesterday and also commented on this other thread by trkingmomoe last night

But it doesn't mean fighting

Peter Schwartz — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 19:23:47 +0000

In reply to If you are going to fight for

But it doesn't mean fighting for Romney to become president.

I fail to see how that is fighting for the rule of law.

And if you aren't voting for Obama at this point, you are voting for Romney, either fully or part way.