M.I.A.
Paul Krugman has joined a long list of liberals who are looking for "the inspirational figure" Obama supporters thought they elected. "Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular?" Krugman asks.... "I’d say that the nation wants — and more important, the nation needs — a president who believes in something, and is willing to take a stand. And that’s not what we’re seeing." (Comments are here.) See updates below.
The Times moderators also rendered my comment M.I.A., * so here it is:
When we -- and I include myself -- weren't paying attention, we elected a President who admired Ronald Reagan, whose campaign economic advisers included bankster Robert Rubin and deregulation advocate Larry Summers, and who famously saw not Red America, not Blue America, but One America. **
That One America turned out to be pretty Red. You haven't said anything here that you and other liberals haven't been saying for a couple of years now. You mentioned months ago that Obama accepted the Republican narrative on a host of issues, even to the point of buying into the "right-wing smear" that FDR didn't act quickly to initiate his New Deal policies.
We know the President reads the papers, so begging him to pay attention isn't going to do any good. He knows what he's doing. Obama makes concessions before the first Republican bid because he wants to. He accepts what Christiane Amanpour got David Plouffe to admit were "draconian" cuts because he wants to. (See also video in yesterday's Commentariat.)
Obama proudly signed on to "the largest annual spending cut in our history" for the same reason he has consistently bent over backwards to accommodate the banksters and other big businessmen. It's the same reason he appointed tax-free GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who sent thousands of GE jobs overseas to head up his jobs commission. It's the same reason he appointed conservatives to head his Cat Food Commission. It's the same reason he wouldn't stand up for Dawn Johnsen but did stand by Tim Geithner. It's the same reason he didn't even slightly push the public option. It's the same reason his "stimulus" bill was more tax cuts than anything else. It's the same reason he has escalated Bush's loser war in Afghanistan. It's the same reason he's made nice to the Chinese, even as they crack down on dissidents & artists. It's the same reason he caved on civil trials for Gitmo prisoners. It's the same reason he hasn't done one thing about gun control, even in the wake of the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabby Giffords, when there was a darned good chance of getting even the lock-and-load crowd in the House to capitulate. Yadayadayada.
The President whom Obama most reminds me of, philosophically, is Richard Nixon. To his credit, Obama is cuter and nicer than Nixon. He probably doesn't have a personality disorder. Other than that, Barack Obama is Nixon warmed over. He wants to take us back to the 70s. Right now, we just have to hope that's the 1970s, not the 1870s, because we're regressing fast.
** We also elected a guy, who by his own account, was willing to accommodate his grandmother's benign racism. So why are we surprised when he is willing to accommodate John Boehner's overt racism, vis-à-vis Obama's agreeing to Boehner's draconian control over majority-black Washington, D.C.?
* My comment is at #28 now.
Update: Reader John F. rebuts my comment. I don't disagree with him:
We were jobbed. Maybe Hillary will stage a primary challenge and we can get a Democrat in the White House.
Update 2: in another response to Krugman's column, Kate Madison examines the family dynamic that made Barack Obama a mediator, not a leader.
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