On 2010-02-11, at 7:30 PM, Julio Huato wrote:
> Marv wrote:
>
>> The effect:
>>
>> Obama Doesn’t ‘Begrudge’ Bonuses for Blankfein, Dimon
>
>> The cause:
>>
>> In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P
>
> However, there's another possibility, as far fetched as it may seem.
> Maybe, it is not so much that -- as Doug recently wrote -- the left
> views the U.S. working people as a sleeping radical giant. Maybe it
> is Obama and the Democrats who view it that way! Maybe they think
> the FDR played with fire in the 1930s. So, they are not willing to
> taunt the working people as FDR felt he had to back in the 1930s.
> Better to keep the giant dormant.
Maybe, Julio, but I think the opposite: that the party leadership doesn't much fear the DP base, nor at this stage do they really need to. Despite it's angry expressions of betrayal, I think the administration still takes the base for granted, particularly as the Republicans move further to the right. It's counting on liberal Democrats voting for Obama against any Republican, and in the same large numbers if Palin or someone equally alarming to them like her were to get the nomination.
That's why the administration has felt free to pursue a very conservative first term strategy - primarily aimed, IMO, at deepening the split in the Republican party and winning over disaffected "moderates" represented by the likes of Colin Powell and Olympia Snowe as well as consolidating the party's tenuous hold in the Southern and Western states where it made inroads during the last election. This underlies all the concessions to the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats which the party's liberal base finds so maddening. (As do many libertarian independents, BTW, who went for Obama in 2008 and are opposed to the bailouts and propping up zombie banks rather than letting markets clear by themselves.) But we now know this strategy of reaching out to the Republicans and conservative Democrats has been a disaster for the administration; Emanuel and all the other clever fellows outsmarted themselves in assuming they could drive a permanent wedge into the Republican party and that bolder measures were not required to deal with the present crises in the economy, health care, the environment, and foreign policy.
> But is it only the Democrats who act as if? The Republicans (not only
> tea baggers, but the Wall Street Journal, etc.) seem to think that
> Marxism and socialism are still serious latent threats. They continue
> to attack Marx, socialism, and communism relentlessly. Discrediting
> Marxism, socialism, etc. Why beat the dead horse, if indeed dead?
> Maybe they are on to something.
> ========================
I wouldn't take these alarums from the right about socialism and Marxism too seriously. These terms are synonomous with "liberal" for many working Americans. The financial and health care industries are exploiting these fears to block any serious reform.