For President Obama, No Opportunity Too Big To Blow

For Obama, No Opportunity Too Big To Blow
by Naomi Klein
December 21, 2009

I understand all the arguments about not promising what he can't deliver, about the dysfunction of the U.S. Senate, about the art of the possible. But spare me the lecture about how little power poor Obama has. 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. Sure, he spent some money on weatherization, but public transit was inexplicably short changed while highways that perpetuate car culture won big.

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 -- it took real effort not to nationalize them. 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. Green businesses report that it's harder than ever to get a loan.

Read the full article at:

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

She's really getting her name out there.

Whoever she is, she's got quite the hate on for Obama. You'd Better Believe It.

Obama is the biggest political disappointment of my life. I knew Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the bushies were miserable assholes. I did not expect Obama to be such an utter failure--and he is without question.

n/t

who finds her screeds "awful". She also kissed up to a Sudanese official because he furthered her agenda; yes, that is the same Sudanese government responsible for war drimes in Darfur.

AS many opportunities? No pres. has been handed a bigger piece of conservative shit than Obama.

Klein is dead-on right. I never expected Obama to be anything but a right-of-center corporatist, but I did expect him to be far more pro-green than he's been.

put it's message discipline campaign into full force. The op-eds, media appearances, etc. Nice concerted effort to quiet dissent.

Force the banks to fund green projects? Order the auto companies to retool their factories to produce green infrastructure? Does she not remember the shitstorm that surrounded maybe, possibly limiting some bonuses? There'd have been impeachment proceedings over the things she suggests.