I saw a letter to the editor in a local newspaper entitled "Obama, you heartbreaker" on September 19th and I said to myself "Don't read it, it will only make you angry". I read it anyway and it did make me angry.
The letter was written by a person calling himself a "progressive" and he details all the things that have made him unhappy with the Obama administration. The writer spoke about how hopeful he was with Obama's election and how many progressive changes would happen now that he was in the White House. Then the writer began to talk about his disappointments with Obama and listed some of his unfulfilled promises. He concluded by saying he may need to put his support behind a different candidate in the future.
Come on people!
The reality is that this administration has accomplished more "progressive" initiatives in three years than anything we've seen for a long long while coming out of Washington. Healthcare Reform, two women on the Supreme Court, lower taxes, repeal of Don't Ask-Don't Tell, saved the American Auto Industry, is ending the war in Iraq, saved the country from a debt crisis, is a positive example for millions of African-Americans, killed Osama Bin Laden, and is now traveling the country unfolding his "Jobs for America" proposal.
Could his administration have done more for the country? YES! Has Congress been at all helpful? NO! Have some "blue-dog" democrats subverted progressive initiatives? YES! Could any one of us have done more in the face of this congressional obstructionism? I don't think so.
My point is this. Rather than liberals, independents, and progressives lamenting in public what Obama has not been able to accomplish, which only serves the interests of the conservative right-wing, it would be better if we were all writing letters (and taking other actions) pointing out the real enemies of social and economic change; the obstructionists, the racists, the extreme right-wing, the "oh-poor-me" 1%, and the current Republican controlled House of Representatives.
Barack Obama is not the enemy. His administration's policies have turned left much more than they have leaned right. Instead of casting doubt on his leadership to an already misinformed electorate thanks to Fox News and other media groups, we should be constantly focusing our energy on exposing the lies that these so called "news" organizations and their minions dish out every day.
To me it is better to support, and then struggle with, someone whose policies are generally in the right place than it is to wait for the opposition to win and see all of our accomplishments disappear.
jt
No comments:
Post a Comment