Tough love for Obama (Advice to the 44th President and His Party)

[Demeter]

There's something important that progressives need to understand: we now own Barack Obama. And, no, I'm not suggesting we own his fidelity, or that he'll do whatever we want. Quite the contrary, I expect him to break our hearts on a semi-regular basis. That's what Democratic politicians do to their liberal base. And I don't say this churlishly. Governing is a very different gig from pounding out Op-eds and blog posts.

Given the inherent give and take of politics, some degree of ideological betrayal goes with the territory (although there's been way too much of it in the Democratic Party in recent decades).

No, when I say that we own him, what I mean is that we will be held responsible if he fails: the reputation of liberalism for the next 20 or 30 years is now inextricably tied to his success. It's a good thing that most progressives genuinely do admire and trust Barack Obama, because we've bet the farm on him.

The GOP, of course, similarly bet the farm on George W. Bush eight years ago. And they lost catastrophically. Looking back, this has to represent one of the purest examples of cosmic justice of all time. Republicans subverted American democracy in 2000. And for awhile they were flying high, but in the end, the wages of that sin proved to be the near extinction of both their party and their ideology.

Whether they liked it or not (and they didn't), in 2008 Republicans owned George W. Bush. And try as they might, they could never shake free of him.

So here we are eight years after the disgrace of election 2000, only to find the roles reversed in this one sense: the fate of liberalism is now fused to Barack Obama tighter than the iron and carbon in a steel beam. We can't divorce him. We can't even do a trial separation. This is 'til death do us part.

......
So we have no choice other than to make sure that he succeeds....

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1528

AND FROM ANOTHER QUARTER, MORE ADVICE FOR THE PRESIDENT-ELECT:


...If you want to go bipartisan, do it at Commerce, or Transportation, or Agriculture (maybe some bored Republican senator from a purple state with a Democratic governor?) -- anywhere but Defense, or State, or Justice, the cabinet triumvirate of the Bush crime family....

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/carpenter/237

[theoldman]

1. You are so right in that we own Obama.

We voted for him and are therefore responsible for the type of president we have. If we screwed up, it is our fault. The same goes for the Republicans who voted for Bush. You would be surprised how many of them still think he was a very good president. The remainder refuse to admit that they voted for him.

[RC]

2. Obama is no Liberal and it is foolish to expect him to behave like one.

Obama is Right of Center and he will disappoint those of us that really are Left of Center. Bill Clinton is no Liberal either. But he did pretty good, except where he didn't. NAFTA is a good example. Expect Obama to be like that also.

What this country really needs is a Honest President that really is a little Left of Center. Someone that will be out spoken and not be afraid to deal with the Criminals in the Republican's Governments.