Greenwald: Barack Obama is Gutting the Core Principles of the Democratic Party

[Karmadillo]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/21-6

Published on Thursday, July 21, 2011 by The Guardian/UK
Barack Obama is Gutting the Core Principles of the Democratic Party
The president's attacks on America's social safety net are destroying the soul of the Democratic party's platform
by Glenn Greenwald

<edit>

And now he is devoting all of his presidential power to cutting the entitlement programmes that have been the defining hallmark of the Democratic party since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The silence from progressive partisans is defeaning – and depressing, though sadly predictable.

The nature of American politics is that once a policy is removed from the partisan wars – once it is adopted by the leadership of both parties – it is removed from mainstream debate and fortified as bipartisan consensus. That is why false claims in the run-up to the Iraq war, endorsed by both parties, received so little mainstream journalistic scrutiny. And it's why the former Bush lawyer and right-wing ideologue Jack Goldsmith – back in May 2009 – celebrated in The New Republic the fact that Obama was doing more to strengthen Bush/Cheney terrorism policies than his former bosses could have ever achieved: by embracing the very terrorism approach he once denounced, Obama was converting it from rightwing radicalism into into the official dogma of both parties, and forcing his supporters to defend what were, until 2009, the symbols of rightwing evil.

Identically, Obama is now on the verge of injecting what until recently was the politically toxic and unattainable dream of Wall Street and the American right – attacks on the nation's social safety net – into the heart and soul of the Democratic party's platform. Those progressives who are guided more by party loyalty than actual belief will seamlessly transform from virulent opponents of such cuts into their primary defenders.

And thus will Obama succeed – yet again – in gutting not only core Democratic policies, but also the identity and power of the American Left.

[Donnachaidh]

1. k&r n/t.

[joeybee12]

2. That's why he needs to go...knr

[guruoo]

26. To be replaced by whom?

No alternative, no candidate, no credibility.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BeFree]

4. I gotta admit

He sure had me fooled.

Thank Gawd for DUers.
Now convinced Obama is the proverbial Fox in the hen house.

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...
I get on my knees and pray, we won't get fooled again."

[woo me with science]

5. It was a very clever con.

They are accomplishing things with a faux Democrat in office that they never would have been able to dream of with a united Democratic opposition.

[Jefferson23]

6. This is true, and a huge problem with the idea that we can afford to compromise:

**The nature of American politics is that once a policy is removed from the partisan wars – once it is adopted by the leadership of both parties – it is removed from mainstream debate and fortified as bipartisan consensus (end)

The Telecommunications Act 1996, Glass -Steagall repealed, Military Commission's Act 2006. I could go on, but you get
the point.



What bothers me is the suggestion, or is it pure belief, that "purist, far left" voter's are the
ones who will destroy what we have left?


K&R

[Ikonoklast]

7. Greenwald the Libertarian Hath Spoken!

Hey Glenn, how's that Gary Johnson the Republican for President thing going?


You know, the guy you like?

[Lorien]

9. Since you don't want to discuss the issue you attack the messenger

and only those without a counter argument or facts on their side attack the messenger.

[Ikonoklast]

13. Greenwald is a Fifth Columnist.

He is NOT a Democrat.


Why should I care what he writes? I don't read Beck or Limbaugh, either.

[roxiejules]

18. How about if Dem. Rep. DeFazio says

Obama has embraced Reaganomics?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWiSJVtTZ8Q&feature=player_embedded


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x716741

[_ed_]

27. Cite a source from Greenwald where

he explicitly supports Gary Johnson for President, and not just his policy on drugs and marijuana in particular.

[bvar22]

8. K&R for Greenwald and Harry Truman.

"I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the Fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign."
---President Harry Truman

QED:2010

[KoKo]

14. +!

[Myrina]

20. That says it all.

+100

[pscot]

24. Amazingly enough

Harry Truman never went to Harvard. He wasn't even a lawyer.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lorien]

11. Ultimately, a fully corrupted Democrat is more dangerous than a teabagger for this

reason:

"Those progressives who are guided more by party loyalty than actual belief will seamlessly transform from virulent opponents of such cuts into their primary defenders."

Scott Walker faces MASSIVE protests and a recall effort because of his attacks on an institution (unions) that the Left holds dear. But Obama gets a free pass simply because he tacked a (D) to name. His potential opposition becomes-at least in part-his biggest cheer leading squad. If only Scott Walker would have been so clever! now Obama can systematically erase every gain made by Democrats over the past 80 years simply through branding, and thus destroy the remnants of the Left in America. Bush could never have done that. No republican could.

[bvar22]

15. Nailed It.

Clearly and Succinctly stated.
I may have to borrow that from you at some future date.

"Scott Walker faces MASSIVE protests and a recall effort because of his attacks on an institution (unions) that the Left holds dear. But Obama gets a free pass simply because he tacked a (D) to name. His potential opposition becomes-at least in part-his biggest cheer leading squad. If only Scott Walker would have been so clever! now Obama can systematically erase every gain made by Democrats over the past 80 years simply through branding, and thus destroy the remnants of the Left in America. Bush could never have done that. No republican could."



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

[Doctor_J]

17. Not only unions

Teachers, public schools, Social Security, Medicare.

Basically all of the work done by Dems FDR-LBJ is being sabotaged and undone. It's heartbreaking.

[pscot]

25. And the black community, the core

of the Democratic party. If this is by design, he is indeed a 17 dimensional chess player. It's kind of hard to believe.

[txlibdem]

30. Make that Dems: FDR; LBJ; and Carter

Since he gave us the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, both of which are under attack from the psycho right.

[girl gone mad]

12. k & r

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Myrina]

21. Party? The COUNTRY will be in utter ruins.

:(

[swilton]

19. K&R

[Demeter]

22. And your point is?

[Remember Me]

23. Sww, I rhink rhw Obama admin has been an astonishing success --

for the Republicans.

Many more such Pyrrhic victories and we won't even need to worry abou0t whether or not to vote.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[democracy1st]

29. K & R from day one!