[lbo-talk] protest Obama

[Dissenting Wren]

I think the letter has two purposes, neither of them mere denunciation:
(1) To try to convince some quislings who should know better to join the 
opposition.
(2) To stake out a position that there IS a left opposition, not just 
left-liberal "critical supporters" of Obama.

So, I see this as basically an exercise in demarcation.  And yes, the real 
opposition should have no illusions about this being a democratic political 
system in which argument and reason matter.  Unfortunately, those are two 
problems, not one.  The ongoing project to render those who would have an 
interest in a democratic political system unable to distinguish argument and 
reason from demagoguery has had enough success that the mere casting off of 
illusions by the cadre of the opposition will achieve little, and the path to 
achieving more is obscure, I think, to all of us.

Michael

----- Original Message ----
From: Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com>
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Sent: Mon, December 13, 2010 8:15:16 AM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] protest Obama

Doug, I really do not understand what this letter is aimed to accomplish.
On the one hand, I find it increasingly more difficult to say anything
positive about this administration.  I defended (sort of) its position on
the crappy health reform as realism because in this country's political
system it is far more difficult to introduce something new as opposed to
mere stalling and resisting any change.  For that reason, a far reaching
compromise was a necessity to accomplish any reform.

But by the same logic, O's administration did not have to to do much beyond
ordinary stalling to let the Bush era tax cuts expire.  Yet they chose to
cut a deal to prolong them over the opposition of a big part of their own
party.  That is not compromise but capitulation cum collaboration - the
Fifth Column if you will.

But pursuing that analogy a step further, what good does writing a letter
denouncing Quislings and Vichy  do?  It is not the lack of courage or moral
falling of Mr. Quisling or Mr. Petain that led to the capitaltion but the
strength of the Nazi panzer.  Circulating letters only creates an illusion
that this is still a democratic political system in which argument and
reason matter. They do not.

Wojtek
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