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I'm well aware that not all Obama voters are upset with his right-of-center performance or gradualist policies, so I'm not trying to say all Democrats, liberals, or whatever are dissatisfied. But I am, and I'm convinced a lot of other people are too. But rather than whine about being sold a bill of goods, I want to start planning on how to make the most of the current situation and plan for a better tomorrow.
If you're intent on defending Obama, please understand I'm not saying you're deluded or misguided or anything like that. I'm also not interested in having a debate about whether liberals should be satisfied or not. That's a topic for another thread. In this thread, we try to think of ideas of how to get better policies and more progressive candidates into the Democratic Party mainstream establishment, and maybe into the more powerful offices in the government. Here are a few of my ideas (off the top of my head):
1: Start planning for the 2016 Presidential campaign. Let's assume Obama's going to get the nomination in 2012 and win reelection. In the meantime, let's look for promising candidates for '16 who would be a strong progressive voice in Democratic primary debates. In '07 and '08, the only people on the stage who was unabashedly liberal was Kucinich, arguably Gravel, and to some extent Obama (who will not actually push the policies he claims to believe). Kucinich, as much as I love him, is a media joke. The guy doesn't look presidential, and has enough quirks to be a serial punchline. I hate it, but the media would never allow him to be taken seriously. We need to learn from that.
The rules of the game suck, but we have to win that game to change those rules. So we need to take a long look at our bench and cultivate some media-friendly compelling candidates. We need fresh faces that people haven't prejudged. People who can speak authoritatively about policy and liberal values. I'll admit that I am at a loss for many good names here, but I'll toss out a few people that I'm tentatively impressed by. Rep. John Yarmuth (KY), Sen. Russ Feingold (WI), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL). In the five years before the '16 primary season, we should be scouting strong prospects and doing everything we can to raise their profile, and push them toward running: ( _____ for President facebook groups, emailing their staff, or even promoting them if we live in their district).
2: Start planning for the 2012 Presidential campaign. Even if we're essentially stuck with Obama, let's not act like it. If he feels pressure from the left (you know, his voters/fundraisers/volunteers), he's going to try to accommodate us. But let's not be satisfied with trinkets like a Medicare opt-in for the sickest people above 55 years old or baubles like a 2011 Afghanistan deadline that literally means nothing. Let's start shopping around for a credible primary challenger who is somewhat interested in a Quixotic race to unseat the President. They don't have to actually run, just hint or threaten. A Kennedy to Obama's Carter. This is probably the most controversial idea I've got, but what is Obama's biggest fear? It's not that he'll be seen as an average centrist president. It's that he'll be a failure. Nothing looks more like a failure than someone who can't even coast to renomination unchallenged. If the media smells even the slightest bit of blood in the water, they'll start talking about Obama's inability to hold his base. Maybe that will move him toward us. Maybe that will make him a stronger progressive, just to prove to us he's on our side. I'm afraid sometimes that the GOP attack on him was right. He is weak, that's why he always bends to accommodate the conservatives. Let's use that weakness to bend him back our way.
3: Start aiming low. Obama's not going anywhere, probably for two terms. But his advisors and appointees can be cut loose at any time. Geithner and Summers are a disaster, trying to hold up and block every meaningful financial reform. Outrageously, Geithner is apparently not doing enough for the bankers, because Obama is thinking of replacing him with the head of JP Morgan. Rahm Emanuel only cares about winning the publicity battles, regardless of whether good policy is made. Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal, and David Petraeus are being blatantly insubordinate when they contradict the President, claim that we're in Afghanistan to "defeat Karzai's enemies", and leak their opinions to the press during strategy talks. Obama is too weak to fire them. But as Glenn Beck (of all people) showed us: Obama will throw anyone under the bus if they become a liability. Let's focus our anger on these people who are actually enacting the White House's policies (and seemingly pulling them to the right as they do it).
Sorry if this post is too long. Even if you don't have any beef with Obama, these ideas are still worth considering, I think. He promised change and we have to make him deliver it. We also need to start thinking about what to do after Obama. The country is not a right-wing one, but the establishment (even the Democratic establishment) is geared toward that right-wing. We need to think of ways to change that (particularly ways we can change that as individuals with no institutional power). I'm eager to see some of your ideas and your reactions to mine.
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