Sunday, November 21, 2010

Krugman Agrees

On all counts - Obama's dangerous Reagan worship, on his misrepresentation of Democratic history, and on the deep self-delusion and denial of the Obamacans when confronted with the baldly stated illiberal beliefs of The Precious:
Some readers may recall that back during the Democratic primary Barack Obama shocked many progressives by praising Ronald Reagan as someone who brought America a “sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.” I was among those who found this deeply troubling — because the idea that Reagan brought a transfomation in American dynamism is a right-wing myth, not borne out by the facts. (There was a surge in productivity and innovation — but it happened in the 90s, under Clinton, not under Reagan).

All the usual suspects pooh-poohed these concerns; it was ridiculous, they said, to think of Obama as a captive of right-wing mythology.

But are you so sure about that now?

And here’s this, from Thomas Ferguson: Obama saying
We didn’t actually, I think, do what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did, which was basically wait for six months until the thing had gotten so bad that it became an easier sell politically because we thought that was irresponsible. We had to act quickly.
As Ferguson explains, this is a right-wing smear. What actually happened was that during the interregnum between the 1932 election and the1933 inauguration — which was much longer then, because the inauguration didn’t take place until March — Herbert Hoover tried to rope FDR into maintaining his policies, including rigid adherence to the gold standard and fiscal austerity. FDR declined to be part of this.

But Obama buys the right-wing smear.

More and more, it’s becoming clear that progressives who had their hearts set on Obama were engaged in a huge act of self-delusion. Once you got past the soaring rhetoric you noticed, if you actually paid attention to what he said, that he largely accepted the conservative storyline, a view of the world, including a mythological history, that bears little resemblance to the facts.

And confronted with a situation utterly at odds with that storyline … he stayed with the myth.
What infuriates me about this situation is that the people who were the most rabid Obama supporters, racing around intimidating anyone who opposed The Precious, spreading lies about HRC, gaming caucuses and rigging votes, justified their actions be claiming that HRC was just a front for right-wing interests and would run an administration identical to the one Obama is running now, whereas he would be the reincarnation of the pantheon of Democratic greats all rolled into one. These are often the same people who failed to vote for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, again claiming that there was "no difference" between them and Bush, that they weren't liberal enough, etc. Gore in particular was singled out for this kind of treatment.

Obama is wholly captured by the conservative myth of the strong entrepreneurial Republicans leading the nation out of the divisive, wasteful wilderness of the weak Democrats. He said so in his campaign, he has said so every day of his administration, and he may very well bring about the end of the Democratic Party given his determination to follow in Saint Ronnie's footsteps.

Anglachel


2 comments:

Koshem Bos said...

The Democratic Party of LBJ, Humphrey and Mondale has long gone. Obama became king because the party is dead. He may be the last nail in the coffin.

I hope, there will be a new Democratic Party after the desert generation will die away.

StephenAG said...

As a political neophyte I researched the candidates of 2008 as deeply as I possibly could. But I was flabbergasted to see the progressive community fawning over Obama. I could not understand why they ignored his comments praising Reagan at the Nevada editorial board (I took the time to listen to his whole interview; I was home sick that day.). Obama campaigned from the right and has governed from the right. Why?

"But Obama buys the right-wing smear."

Says it all, doesn't it.

But as long as "progressives" continue to view politics as a cult of personality and choose to ignore a person's 30+ years of fighting for the concerns and well being of all Americans, this mistake will repeat itself.

Politics for some has become a substitute for faith. There is a religious fervor to many of their arguments. But politics, by design, is secular; facts rule the day. And if you ignore the facts you will end up with a "hot mess".

FYI, Obama has managed to piss off my mother, a 76-year old Black woman. This woman wept at his election but now only has a commemorative edition on her coffee table as a reward for her efforts. So sad.