A call to...

Thinking about all the discussion concerning Obama, I suspect that we on the left (most all here are left of Obama's overall actions to date) have to realize:

1. If Obama is at all good at "triangulating", then when it comes to the political campaign fast approaching, he must know that no one can put a significant primary challenge together and thus doing so would most likely not move him in any direction. It is likely a huge effort with little result. Does not mean do not try, as being motivated by something is important too.

2. We need to face up to the obvious elephant in the room. Almost all wealth (and thus real power, whether we like it or not) in this country is in very few hands (and that is a great deal of wealth!). Even without Citizen's United or election rigging, etc., the traditional expressions of our desires are not likely to work. Candidates, primaries, elections, legislation just cannot compete with the inequality. From my perspective, most of what politics is (candidates, primaries, elections, legislation - the democratic means most encouraged in this Republic) are simply not sufficient. We have not halted the slide back to pre-Enlightenment values and policies. We are losing and losing more and more, even as we are more and more active in these traditional methods. I am not sure where that leaves us, but we need to be spending real effort at some alternatives.

3. The Presidency certainly lends itself to leadership and the population of this country broadly expects that. A great deal of that expectation is caused by the highly fearful and defensive zeitgeist that has been realized after the Cold War and now "terrism". Whatever the causes, that trend is not abating. I personally thought that Obama was standing to the side and not being the "Grand Leader of the Republic", expecting Congress (the true representative of the people) to take a leadership role, in debates like the one about healthcare reform, in actions like closing Guantanamo, in rolling back the Patriot Act and the Bush tax cuts, etc. Constitutionally, he is the Executive, not the leader. However, no one is rising up and we are already on an accelerating race to the right (and to the bottom). It is largely not his role to stop that. We (the people) have abdicated our role and are expecting it from him.

4. There are many good things Obama has done, and done well. My favorite are his Supreme Court picks. Not only are they strongly to the left of the Court's center, they have gone through with minimal problems. His accomplishments are not to be underestimated. In spite of being angered by his actions sometimes, may times, I also need to remind myself that he has done some things well and support him for that reason.

From all of the above, I think we need to do whatever we can to make sure he is re-elected. However, we should make sure of that with the understanding that he is not likely to be especially liberal or progressive in action. We can look at the positives and try to ensure that he follows through with those.

However, we cannot keep pinning our hopes on him. He is not JFK or FDR or Teddy Roosevelt for that matter. We should not pin our hopes on any President, or any set of Congress Critters. There is little chance (probably less than none because it saps our energy and enthusiasm) to expect the political methods generally laid out for us to have any impact. Only slowing things down, maybe.

That is not where we should be spending our effort. As I said, "I think we need to do whatever we can to make sure he is re-elected." However, "whatever we can" means ONLY AFTER we start taking true citizen responsibility in other, more creative, and hopefully more effective ways than getting someone elected to office.

I know, that is in some way accepting where the Tea Party thinks we should go, i.e., that Government is the Problem. Of course it isn't. In fact, Government is the only likely means in the end of ensuring equality and liberty for the vast majority, rather than wealth, privilege and power for the few. However, THIS Government is most definitely part of the problem. It will not do to simply play "wonk" and continue to pound sand by way of the conventional processes. Those are already co-opted, and are most often distractions from what we can really do.

And, I am MOT saying that:

a. We need to hit "rock bottom" before we can change/recover/act/react/rebel, etc.

b. "Only at the precipice do we change"

c. When people are fed up enough, then they will act.

No, those are the arguments of the actors in the Shock Doctrine. It is amazing what people will give up if they are desperate enough. That is precisely what a disaster capitalist would like to see.

The Enlightenment grew out of recovery, not increasing misery. Civil rights, suffrage, the anti-slavery movements, etc., have grown out of having a large portion of the population able to see the injustices without worrying that it would happen to them too. Even the Progressive movement during the Gilded Age was the result of organizing by the Free-Thinkers, Knights of Labor, etc., decades before. In a sense, that is the reverse of disaster capitalism, it was instead disaster progressivism.

Now, I am not saying I know how to do all that. I am saying it is our responsibility to "get the ball rolling". I am tired of beating my head against the wall all the time, as my Head Banger days are long over.

What are your ideas? What are you doing to make them happen? What can we all do?

Not that I disagree with you but nuanced messaging and political psychology isn't going to work. The economy has lived, is living and for at least the next year will reside at the bottom of the shit can. No mortal incumbent, in free elections, can run successfully on a continued 9% unemployment. Sorry if this offends but more than a message theme is needed.