On 2010-11-05, at 12:45 PM, c b wrote:
> Let me repeat that: the main cause of the Democrats
> losses was not because of they didn't achieve what you propose. This
> is another big problem with your analysis and that of many others. You
> ignore that the election turned on the anger of those opposed to what
> you propose, not on the disappointment of those who support ( to some
> extent; not as left as yours; they're mildly left) , what you propose.
> You are exaggerating or overestimating the breadth of support for the
> left program you outline in your post.
What about the administration's escalation of the war in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan? What about its education policy with respect to charter schools and teachers' pay?
When I asked you previously whether you were critical of ANY administration policies, you cited these.
But if Obama had announced a troop withdrawal rather than a troop surge from Afghanistan, the "anger from the right on which the election turned" would have been arguably more ferocious than anything else his administration did, or that disappointed liberals were hoping he would do. If he had declared in favour of the teachers' unions and against charter schools, it would equally have aroused fierce opposition from the right.
Your logic suggests you should have refrained from criticizing the administration's performance in these areas as you have in respect to what I described at the time the four core domestic issues which confronted it- financial restructuring and regulation, public healthcare, mortgage relief, and spending on job creation.
Further, I think it's misleading, perhaps purposefully so, to characterize the demands on Obama as somehow representing a sectarian "left program" originating outside the mainstream of American politics. They originated from within and belong to the disappointed liberal base of the Democratic party. Obama could have mobilized that liberal base around them, and in the process, built on his support among students, Hispanics, and other new or self-described independent voters who had been drawn to his campaign by the promise of change. Polls consistently showed majority support within the broader population for all of these policies championed by liberal Democrats, with the possible exception of charter schools.
I'm mystified why you would choose to criticize some Obama policies and refrain from criticizing others when the political context, on which you hang your hat, was the same in all cases.