Complaining and being cynical is not the solution [View All]

[ProSense]

This is Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism criticizing Adam Green of Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Why Liberals Are Lame (Part 2)

It may seem churlish to pick on a specific, well intentioned liberal organization to illustrate a rampant pathology within what passes for the left in the US. Nevertheless, examples serve as important case studies and hopefully will help both the object of presumably unwanted attention and its broader constituency understand that many of their campaigns actually undermine the causes they purport to represent.

Let’s look at an example, an e-mail from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee to constituents of Alabama’s Spencer Bachus, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and self-proclaimed Best Friend of Banks (”My view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks”):

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This mini-campaign is hopelessly misguided. Is Bachus going to stop calling Warren bad names, or serving the doings of his banking paymasters based on a few phone calls? Does it even matter than Bachus is calling Warren bad names when there is an orchestrated cacaphony of similar noise, starting with the vastly more off base attacks emanating from the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page? One set of calls to one right wing noise maker, even one who happens to head an influential Congressional committee, will not make an iota of difference. Congress is not a party to the settlement negotiations.

And the other reason for caring about these attacks is equally questionable: it’s based on the fantasy that Warren might get a recess appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, circumventing the need for Congressional approval. I have one answer to that: over Geithner’s dead body. No matter what his public stance on her might be, he and she are philosophically at odds. Geithner has an unusually close relationship with the President and has managed to enlarge his scope of authority beyond that of a past Treasury secretaries. And if that answer isn’t good enough, consider a second: Obama needs to raise an estimated $1 billion to win the 2012 election. He’s moved further and further to the right over the course of his Presidency. Why is he going to change gears and alienate one of his biggest donor groups by appointing Warren?

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One thing is certain: A progressive movement to effect change can't be built on complaining alone.