Starting With Where the World Is

by: David Sirota

Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 18:44


Chris and Matt both have terrific posts up today about why Obama is doing what he's doing, and how it is really a reflection of both his own proclivities and the state of the progressive movement. I want to re-link to this post I did a few weeks ago taking a bite at the same apple, making the argument that Obama is actually EMPOWERED to do what he's doing because he took advantage of progressive movement weaknesses and used a vacuum to organize a movement around himself.

That's why he feels no hesitation in campaigning against the war, for Wall Street regulation, and against NAFTA, and then appoint a Cabinet filled with Iraq War supporters, free market fundamentalists who deregulated Wall Street, and a NAFTA-loving U.S. Trade Representative. It's why one of his top aides saw no risk in writing a screed using Fox News talking points to tell the "left wing" of the Democratic Party to STFU. Because Team Obama ate part of the left, and organized it around the celebrity, charisma and leadership of one man - and the progressive movement that is organized around issues like the war, the economy and trade is still too weak to change the dynamic. Put another way, the forces of money and power that want Obama to embrace militarism, free market fundamentalism, corporate-written trade deals and general bashing of the Dirty Fucking Hippie still have more structural influence than the forces that want the opposite.

Like Chris and Matt, I point this out not as a lamentation - but just as a reminder of what the reality is as we move forward into 2009. There's a real chance for "real change" - but that chance requires us to accept a daunting reality if we are to make something out of this moment. This isn't to say Obama's policies will be as conservative as his appointments. Not at all - as I've said ad nauseum, we should wait to withhold policy judgment until he makes explicit policy declarations (and the few that he's made are pretty progressive). But it is to say we have to appreciate the structural realities in front of us , and work from those realities, if we are to really achieve "change we can believe in."

Rather than treating Obama as a Dear Leader, insisting every move he makes  - no matter how troubling - is Teh Awesome, and pretending all of his Cabinet appointments are ultra-progressive ponies with a Secret Plan, it's far more productive to simply acknowledge what's really going on, and work off it constructively - sometimes in opposition to Obama other times in tandem.

Bottom line: As Saul Alinsky told us decades ago, in order to be most effective, we have to start with where the world is - not where we want it to be.  
David Sirota :: Starting With Where the World Is

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Starting With Where the World Is | 8 comments
On The Left And Obama Criticism (4.00 / 2)
I get a little tired of people who reject criticism of their criticism as calling for Stalin-like cult-of-personality or mindless proclamations of "teh Awesome".

I am hesitant, and disturbed, by the tendency of the left to eat it's own.

That wouldn't be all bad - sometimes our own do terrible foolish things that make them no longer our own and worthy of being, well, eaten. Sure, that happens. But a lot of time I think we (both the left and, more particularly, the online left) tend to do it for poor reason.

When I judge Obama, I'd probably look to (in roughly this order): 1. What he does (which is premature because he isn't doing a whole lot right now), 2. What he has done (and his voting record is pretty darn good), 3. What he says he will do (which I broadly supported)...

Probably around 815 would pop up "who he associates with" whether it is in his private life, in his cabinet or in his inaguration.

Anyway, I really wonder about the utility of predicting failure (or success) based on so little evidence. If he's not going to be progressive, we'll know soon enough. If he is going to be progressive, we'll know that soon enough too.  

It seriously is annoying (0.00 / 0)
Obama is an opportunity not an end goal.

You know the last president that both sides were united around?  Reagan.  And they were like that because carter failed enough to let that happen.  

Bush is the reason why people are so united around Obama.  Bush and just the plain fact that Obama is running on what people want.  It is unsurprising that the richest country in the world idolizes rich people and that the poorest countries elect poor people.


http://transgendermom.blogspot....

[ Parent ]
Positive (4.00 / 2)
Obama's a centrist, always has been. Its like you (and Chris and Matt) know that at night, forget it by morning, then write a post in the afternoon as the awful knowledge returns.

Obama's vision is to represent the center third of the country ideologically, but to favor the rich politically and silently. He couldn't have been elected otherwise. His cabinet basically represents his ideas, though he might occasionally put a progressive spin on something.

It won't be enough. We need to return some of the assets and wealth the rich have privatized to the commons. Please stop chewing over the obvious and help us find a positive strategy. You can be so good.

Starting With Where the World Is | 8 comments
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