"No Opportunity Too Big to Blow" Naomi Klein:

[amborin]

Contrary to countless reports, the debacle in Copenhagen was not everyone's fault. It did not happen because human beings are incapable of agreeing, or are inherently self-destructive. Nor was it all was China's fault, or the fault of the hapless UN.

.....there was one country that possessed unique power to change the game. It didn't use it. If Barack Obama had come to Copenhagen with a transformative and inspiring commitment to getting the U.S. economy off fossil fuels, all the other major emitters would have stepped up.......

Instead of leading, Obama arrived with embarrassingly low targets and the heavy emitters of the world took their cue from him.

snip

.......No President since FDR has been handed as many opportunities to transform the U.S. into something that doesn't threaten the stability of life on this planet. He has refused to use each and every one of them. Let's look at the big three.


Blown Opportunity Number 1:

The Stimulus Package When Obama came to office he had a free hand and a blank check to design a spending package to stimulate the economy. He could have used that power to fashion what many were calling a "Green New Deal" -- to build the best public transit systems and smart grids in the world. Instead, he experimented disastrously with reaching across the aisle to Republicans, low-balling the size of the stimulus and blowing much of it on tax cuts......

Blown Opportunity Number 2:

The Auto Bailouts Speaking of the car culture, when Obama took office he also found himself in charge of two of the big three automakers, and all of the emissions for which they are responsible. A visionary leader committed to the fight against climate chaos would obviously have used that power to dramatically reengineer the failing industry so that its factories could build the infrastructure of the green economy the world desperately needs. Instead Obama saw his role as uninspiring down-sizer in chief, leaving the fundamentals of the industry unchanged.

Blown Opportunity Number 3:

The Bank Bailouts Obama, it's worth remembering, also came to office with the big banks on their knees.... Once again, if Obama had dared to use the power that was handed to him by history, he could have mandated the banks to provide the loans for factories to be retrofitted and new green infrastructure to be built. Instead he declared that the government shouldn't tell the failed banks how to run their businesses......

snip

There are very few U.S. Presidents who have squandered as many once-in-a-generation opportunities as Barack Obama. More than anyone else, the Copenhagen failure belongs to him.

<http://www.thenation.com/blogs/copenhagen/508215/for_obama_no_opportunity_to_big_to_blow>

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Got your asbestos suit on?

[amborin]

9. LOL!

[debbierlus]

2. Obama is not a leader.

At best, you can think of milque toast and weak with no political instinct and lacking the temperament to govern in a time that requires a lion, not a lamb.

Or, at worst, he is just a bought and paid for corporate shill vested solely in his own power, happily doing the business of the corporate powers that be.

Either way, he is falling on his face as a President and squandering the opportunity of a lifetime for real change.

[Libertas1776]

4. +1

[amborin]

6. sad, either way; Dems had a huge opportunity w/a populace eager for change

[inna]

3. KR

Excellent article, thanks for the link.

[leftstreet]

5. Obama's squandered political capital convinces me he's not running in 2012

K&R

[amborin]

7. makes me all the sadder, in a way

if he knew he weren't running, think of the even more progressive change he could have rammed through

[ixion]

8. Blown Opportunity #4: Health care reform

mucked that up along with the rest of it.

[Goldstein1984]

10. He did have a lot of supporters waiting for change...

and a lot of them are thinking ahead to 2012 for that change.

Naomi Klein is always good.

There is still hope. If things go badly for Democrats in 2010, maybe Obama will get the message.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. "yes we can" evokes a gag reflex in me these days

So many corporate whores in the administration...

Emmanuel
Geithner
Duncan
Bernake
Gates
Salazar
Vilsack

bleh :puke: