Deepak Chopra: Why We Need President Obama -- A Critical Moment

[babylonsister]

Deepak Chopra
Why We Need President Obama -- A Critical Moment
Posted: 7/16/11 01:25 PM ET


One of the virtues of being on the liberal side of politics is that total obedience isn't required. There are no hidden agendas. Ideology doesn't lead to unreason. In a political climate where it feels as if the inmates are running the asylum -- as in the current Republican threat to default on America's debt -- the prevailing sanity of President Obama is something that others and I have taken for granted.

We cannot afford that luxury any more, I'm afraid.

For many reasons, this is the moment when loyalty is going to count the most. That's a hard sentence to write. Liberal politics is based on a non-regimented, all-inclusive approach to democracy. Freedom of thought is paramount. But certain harsh realities must be faced. For thirty years and more, the progressive tradition has been severely undermined, dating back to Nixon's "Southern strategy" (coddle the racists) and Ronald Reagan's smiling reactionary agenda (AIDS victims deserve what they get), through the first President Bush's Willie Horton strategy (another boost for racism) and the second President Bush's deceptive "compassionate conservatism."

It was such a relief to return to humane, non-ideological governance when President Obama won in 2008 that we underestimated the debasing effect that two generations of right-wing indoctrination has had. Each increment of this debasement seemed fairly tolerable, even bizarrely quixotic. A pledge never to raise taxes until the end of time? Blatant favoritism toward Christian groups, however intolerant their dogmas? Stuffing the foreign service with neo-cons, the Justice Department with graduates of Jerry Falwell's law school? These aberrations go unnoticed outside Washington, perhaps, but bit-by-bit the damage has been corrosive.

snip//

If you suppose that the average citizen remembers that the right wing are the very ones who got us into this forlorn tangle of wars abroad, financial collapse, out-of-control spending, and massive bonuses for the rich, you have not felt the power that fear exerts. Since 9/11, playing upon fear has been wildly successful for the right wing -- it re-elected a catastrophic president -- and now outrage has been added to the mix thanks to the romping recklessness of Wall Street, which paid not the slightest penalty for bringing on the recession.

If ever there was a time to stand behind the captain, this is it. Not because pluralism and free expression are wrong. They aren't and never will be. But like Churchill calling upon a coalition cabinet in the depth of the war years, it's paramount that we see the greater danger for what it is. Attention was drawn to the cover of a recent issue of the Economist, which showed a tall President Obama towering over a squabbling handful of pygmy Republican rivals for the presidency. The headline read, "He Could Still Lose." We need to remember that if that were to happen, it wouldn't be because President Obama made too many mistakes or failed to pass a sufficiently liberal agenda. The reason would be that all of us forgot the 30-year reign of reactionary administrations (minus the Clinton years) and the power of debased politics to keep coming back, again and again.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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

[Pharaoh]

2. And what is that?

[polichick]

3. Do tell.

[FrenchieCat]

4. That's what many said about President Gore.

Boy, he sure was taught his lesson too, wasn't he?
Wonder if he suffered as much as the most vunerable
millions did for those 8 years we had to deal with George Bush
due to the distain of the righteous and pure Left? I wonder
how much progress was seen for those eight years?

[Pharaoh]

5. Lest we forget

Gore actually won.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Lest we remember....by not enough,

and one of the reasons was 90,000+ votes for Ralph Nader in Florida by the pure at heart/political dreamers.

The other reason was the apathy bred by word of mouth about Gore not being his own man, and the spread of right wing propaganda by the corporate mass media to too many rank and file voters. Same can be said about Pres. Kerry.

We lose elections when we splinter, and then we pay for it....not the individual loser of such so much. Why should the most vunerable continue to pay for the lessons some want to teach politicians? When will the "my way or the highway" voters learn that their actions don't work in the way that they intended EVER~

[Pharaoh]

8. Kerry actually won too

They stole Ohio.

But Kerry did'nt make an issue of it, we had his back and he rolled over and played dead.

[FrenchieCat]

9. Again, we didn't win by enough......

And in this country, it appears that the only way to win, is to win overwhelmingly or else
we lose...and we lose BIG in the long run. :(

[Pharaoh]

10. I agree

if it is close they can easily steal it. But I would love to see a true progressive in the primary to push Obama to the left.

[CarolinaIndependent]

14. I remember how dissapointing that was

I was in HS, but everyone around me supported Bush (private rich-snob prep school). Ohio should have gone to Kerry, they obviously cheated, and Kerry gave in despite the media being on his side.

[Knight Hawk]

26. fyi..................

Lots of pundits thought Kennedy stole the election in 1960.In cook county Il.

[Mira]

21. Well said - unhappily remembered n/t

[zalinda]

11. You forgot about all the Jews that voted for Buchanan

The ballot was a nightmare, and a dem signed off on it. I was disappointed in Gore because he could have fought for it, and didn't, because he didn't want to be seen as taken advantage of the system. He had the tie breaking vote, and refused to use it.

It had nothing to do with lefties. And the way some Obama supporters try to guilt or use fear to vote for Obama, makes some want to not vote for him even more.


zalinda

[FrenchieCat]

13. "makes some want to not vote for him even more."

Yeah...that will teach us not to offend the "sensibilities" of those who obviously care more about their own personal feelings than the millions of vunerables who would be most affected by this kind of "payback"....while all along the most "Offended" attempt to give the appearance of caring most for the downtrotten as their rational for being pissed.

WHATFUCKINGEVER! :eyes:

[quaker bill]

17. You are right

it is a vote, not a personal sacrifice, or an ideological statement. As ideological statements go the secret ones, such as a ballot, are of no use whatsoever. Where I live, it generally takes 15 minutes out of my day. I do my best to at minimum pick the politician who might win and will do the least harm to others while in office.

[Mimosa]

18. Frenchie Cat, people complain but there's no alternative

As I said to Elocs below, there is nowhere else to go. So people are merely blowing off steam. Many hope that if the steam looks like a whole lot of smoke, some on Obama's team might start paying attention to us.

Part of the problem is that Obama and his people stopped communicating to his base, the peopel who committed early to him, contributed and helped get him elected. Have you read that quite a few of his previous top money supporters have declined to help build up a war chest for the 2012 election? They are very disappointed. They aren't message board whiners, but like us, people who believed Obama would make strong changes he indicated he believed in. But a couple of years ago he seemed to become deaf to their and our concerns. Instead he sometimes appears to be collaborating with the Republican pigs efforts make the working class 'sacrifice' from barely sufficient social safety nets.

When the President no longer talks to us, the silence will be filled with something. :(

In 2012 90% of dems will go to the polls and vote again for democratic candidates, including President Obama. But we won't be doing it with joy.

[zalinda]

12. deleted double message

[elocs]

6. I live in Wisconsin...you won't really know what hell is until the Republicans control everything

in Washington. The White House, the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court. They will work quickly like they have here in Wisconsin to dismantle every Democratic social program possible, anything that helps people. The YOYO (You're On Your Own) will want to put their brand on America. People will die.

You might claim that people would die with Obama because he is a disappointing Liberal/Progressive, yet he never really was and we heard and saw what we wanted to hear and see in candidate Obama. But however disappointing Obama is as a true Democrat and however many who might die because of him it doesn't hold a candle to the wholesale hell that the Republicans would make of America.

Imagine the likes of Bachmann or Palen put into positions of power, maybe even in the cabinet. Imagine a Tea Party committee being a special adviser to the president.

Now understand why for the sake of the nation that in these times of Republican party insanity that Obama must be reelected.

[Ikonoklast]

15. This should be an OP.

Anyone wanting to replace this president, or vote for the sake of 'purity', needs to face up to what the consequences of those actions will be, and OWN THEM.

[Mimosa]

16. Elocs, I agree with you

Of course there's no where else for us to go.

[louslobbs]

25. Great Response elocs........you made the case beautifully. 'Be angry, be upset, but be smart about

what's left of this countries ability to vote in political advocates who still envision a potential future that includes not just the rich, powerful and privileged, but which recognizes and includes all of us. Also, there's a matter of sanity, I can't even imagine the added insanity in our nation with the Presidency once again in the hands of a fanatical, ideological, God hearing "decider". No one ever gets everything they want and we often want to punish those who we feel have lied to us or have not lived up to our expectations, but no one should want to take the risk, after seeing the damage Republicans have done to the states where they are in control, of the unintended consequences of not voting or splitting the vote, and having another lunatic religious fanatic or ideologically rigid hypocrite Republican take the Presidency and further take this country to a place of no return, somewhere, in the twilight zone.
Lou

[The Big Vetolski]

19. (Sad Laughter) Babylon Sister: The City you name yourself after

no longer exists. Don't you know that? Did you also know that its ruins can be found in (gasp!) Iraq? Where American troops now stumble around hoping to avoid Improvised Explosive Devices?

You compare Obama to Churchill? That's about as silly as comparing Napoleon to Frederick William III. Jena? Remember Jena? Anyone? Anyone? For that matter, does anyone remember Frederick William III? (waiting)

Yeah, I thought not. Now, does anyone remember Napoleon? Well, THAT'S different, isn't it?

Stand behind the captain, indeed. You're asking us to stand behind Frederick William III. A new Napoleon is coming. We just don't know who he is, yet. But I bet American English is his native tongue.

You have hitched your name to a star that is destined to fall to forgetfulness. Like Honorius. Remember him? Anyone? Anyone? Don't you see the tsunami that is coming, Babylon Sister? Don't worry. It will sweep the Republicans away, as well.

[FrenchieCat]

23. She's contributed more to DU than you will ever know.......

It's not the name that counts (except to the petty and superficial), it's what you do.

[Number23]

24. "Don't you see the tsunami that is coming, Babylon Sister?"

Is that "tsunami" otherwise known as The Green Party? Or is this something else?

[The Big Vetolski]

31. The Green Party? I wish! No, far worse than that.

Economic collapse. I see nothing being done to actually avert it. By anyone. And the Republicans seem determined to egg it on. They are truly insane.

[babylonsister]

27. First off, you have no idea where that name came from, nor am

I going to share that with you. Trust me, it's not what you imagine, so your assumptions from the get-go are all washed up. (sad laughter)

Secondly, I didn't write this; I gave the author his due in the title. If you don't understand how this works, let me know.

[The Big Vetolski]

30. Well, there is the song. Sorry, I was a little PUI when I posted my

original reply. (Posting Under the Influence).

[Dawson Leery]

20. kick

[Mira]

22. Link please to the whole piece - I can't see it. Thanks. n/t

[babylonsister]

28. So sorry-link here...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/why-we-need-president-oba_b_900666.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=824506,b=facebook

[Tx4obama]

29. Here's a link

http://www.ymoi.com/2011/07/deepak-chopra-why-we-need-president-obama-a-critical-moment/