Is Obama Failing the Left?
August 25th, 2009 by Ismail GinwalaHannity can moan all he wants about how Obama is a “radical leftist,” but he’s dead wrong.
For all that Obama has achieved for the left thus far, he refuses to go as far as Kucinich. Don’t get me wrong now, we have made 2 steps forwards in the past 8 months while Bush took us twenty steps back in the past 8 years.
Environmentally friendly laws have been signed, we are on our way out of Iraq and increasing our presence in Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay is on its death bed. But those of us farther to the left are feeling more and more frustrated as the Obama presidency continues. We have a lot more to do in changing this country for the better, but Obama is failing to deliver in key areas.
In the social policy agenda, equality for gays and lesbians seems to be too low on Obama’s to-do list. There has been little to no push from the 44th administration in ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ as well as repealing the “Defense” of Marriage Act. It seems that Obama would rather that Congress make the controversial steps in repealing these benchmarks of hate by themselves. Understandably, Obama’s hands are tied in that only Congress can find the needed votes to repeal these laws. But we have yet to see the push for social equality from the White House on a level equal to that of even the Cash for Clunkers program. Maybe it was our fault for electing a president that did not support gay marriage outright, but we were promised the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and we are going to get it with or without Obama’s efforts.
When it comes to health care, you have probably seen and read more than enough about this issue. But know that this might be our last chance for another decade in achieving universal health care. Do you remember how old you were when the Clinton administration tried to push for universal health care? Neither do I. Obama cannot let this opportunity slip, we have worked far too hard and far too long, from North Carolina to Ohio to New Mexico to Nevada, to see America once again fail to achieve what so many nations enjoy. We are up against the GOP money machine, an army of lobbyists, and people that would stoop low enough to lie to America. President Obama, you promised us that we would fight this and that America would emerge victorious, please do not abandon the public option so soon.
And the Bush administration’s loyal gang of criminals, oh there’s a treasure trove of guilt to be found there. How many times have we seen the previous administration treat our laws as mere recommendations? How many times have we seen semantics used to argue that it was okay to bring a man to his knees begging for death simply for being at the wrong place at the wrong time? How many times have we heard of “warrantless wiretapping” going on? We have seen these crimes go unchecked for far too long. Think of the precedence we are setting if the Obama administration continues to be lax on bringing these criminals to justice. We are sending suspects to secret prisons left and right but we refuse to even consider bringing those who have mountains of evidence piled against them to justice? And for what, political reasons? I understand that the Fox News pundits will call this some type of “witch hunt,” that we are criminalizing people for their opinions, but these are the same people that praise “right-wing terrorists” for killing doctors. Justice is blind, our Constitution is the law of the land, and criminals must be brought to justice.
I feel that this has gone on to a far too lengthy post for a blog. I will cut this short, but the list of Obama’s failed promises continues to grow as the months go by. The far-right calls for impeachment and a government overthrow, but we on the left simply ask that promises made be kept.
Tags: Bush administration, equality, healthcare, Obama, Obama administration, same-sex marriage
August 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Ismail,
I really enjoyed this one. There’s a growing consensus on the Left that President Obama is failing to live up to his expectations. In fact, I recently read an article by a statistician who argued that most of the recent drop in Obama’s favorables is due to liberal respondents saying they are “not sure” when asked if they approve of the job 44 is doing.
Rahm and Axelrod have to know this, so my guess is you’ll start to see more bones being thrown our way. I think you already are with the announcement that the DOJ is going to investigate torture allegations. Let’s hope more of that is in the works.
August 25th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
He is failing the left, there’s no doubt about it. He is too concerned with his own image and achieving the coveted bipartisanship to stand up for what the people that elected him believe in. He could have accomplished so much more in these past six months, but he did not have the will to push for it. Let me explain:
The first Democratic constituency that got let down (or rather, betrayed) by the President was the LGBT community. With the reaction to Prop 8 and the subsequent legalization of marriage equality in New England and Iowa, the gay community was ready to take substantial action on its rights. What did it get from the Obama White House? A lukewarm support for the hate crimes bill, a great piece of legislation, but not one of the primary goals of the community. Furthermore, Obama has the power to issue an executive order to stop investigations under the purview of DADT, but he has refused to exercise it. Then, Obama’s Justice Department filed a brief defending DOMA in court, arguing that they are obligated to defend existing law (even though there is precedent of Justice officials refusing to defend unconstitutional law). In their brief, the Obama DOJ compared gay relationships to incest and pedophilia, sparking outrage in the community. How did Obama react? A memorandum giving federal employees spousal benefits (even though they can’t collect on 90% of them because of DOMA). The LGBT community in particular is outraged at Obama, and they will most likely be sitting out the midterm elections unless major action is taken in the fall session.
Then came health care. From the moment Obama nominated Tom Daschle to the HHS position, you could tell that his health care plan would tick to the right, the far right. Daschle was a lobbyist for insurance firms for four years, and he has no business running a liberal health care push. The constant snubs of Howard Dean, the only Democrat that’s making any sense on the issue, were a further sign. The utter collapse of Obama’s command on the issue this past August proved the main argument against Obama in the election–he is too unprepared to guide these sensitive issues through Congress. Anyone with any experience in Washington would have told Kent Conrad to shut up months ago.
And Obama has not led a significant push for the other legislative agenda items: the cap-and-trade bill, doomed to die in the Senate, and immigration reform, which Obama’s now pushing back until next year (where it will be pushed back further until after the midterms). Will Democrats be able to win in 2010 with an unfortunate health care compromise and the stimulus package as the only accomplishments of this Congress? I don’t think so. It’s going to take a lot of leadership from Obama to salvage an awful summer, but I fear that he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to a fringe Republican Party and stand for what Democrats believe in.
August 26th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Obama doesn’t have to do ANYTHING for the left.
Because he knows you guys would never vote for anyone but him in 4 years. And if he knows that, why should he care what the left thinks?
August 26th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
True, he sort of already has our vote in 2012. But we are the ones that raise money for him, campaign for him, rally for him. He could see turnout in these areas substantially decrease if he does not throw the left a bone.
Either way, the right-wing will get beat down yet again unless they quit putting up a show and revert to the respectable Republican Party of forever ago.