On 2010-11-01, at 10:17 AM, c b wrote:
> Carrol Cox
>
>
> ===== Who calls him a traitor to the left. Before you can be a traitor
> to something you have to beolong to it. A Japanese citizen cannot be a
> traitor to France.
>
> ^^^^
> CB: Exactly. Though Obama clearly ran as a centrist, not a leftist,
> there are many criticisms of him by leftists dishonestly claiming that
> he is breaking campaign promises and is a traitor to the left.
I'm sure neither of you won't find anyone on this list - or, more generally, on the left outside of the Democratic Party - who feels "betrayed" by Obama because they had illusions he was a "leftist" or who put much stock in the campaign promises of politicians.
On the other hand, you will, find many liberals inside the Democratic party who do feel betrayed by Obama (who was and almost certainly still is a liberal) because of the administration's very public surrender to Wall Street bankers, blue dog Democrats, and establishment Republicans on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues which need not be recapitulated here.
Disappointment with the administration, let it be noted, also extends beyond and to the right of the DP, to independent voters - the "centrists" on whom, in your view, Obama based his campaign - who are now deserting him in droves, and well into the ruling class, to both liberal and conservative economists, commentators, and business and government officials who were hoping for bolder action and reforms to promote a more robust recovery and improve American competitiveness.
Nor did anyone, including on this list, expect Obama to be a traitor to his class. On the contrary, many expected him to be the savior of his class, as FDR was in the 30's. Given the crisis he inherited, it was not unreasonable to suppose his administration might have tackled the financial, housing, employment and health care crises with a similar energy and will to confront the inevitable obstructionist interests on the right .
You and Carrol believe, for your separate reasons, that it was not possible for Obama to proceed along these lines. Fine. We've debated the issue to death. But it would be good if you both at least had some understanding of where Obama's critics, not only the left but all along the political spectrum, were coming from.
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