[lbo-talk] Evaluating the Obama administration

Marv Gandall marvgandall at videotron.ca
Wed Sep 22 13:53:26 PDT 2010


On 2010-09-22, at 4:19 PM, c b wrote:


> Most of the Dems who voted for
> Obama don't have the left positions you describe and aren't going to
> vote for Republicans.

I expect most Democrats vote for the party out of traditional loyalty, trust their leaders, and don't spend much time reflecting on their policies. That's true of all political parties. It's typically the minority of activists and intellectuals who critically examine their party's direction. I think there is plenty of evidence that liberal activists and intellectuals are critical of the administration, even though they will obviously vote for it rather than the Republicans, in the absence of any alternative.


> Do you have any criticisms to make of the administration's
> performance, any at all?
>
> ^^^^^
> CB: Yes, and I've made them on the lists before. The main two would
> be sending more troops to Afghanistan and supporting right-wing school
> policy; supporting or engineering the coup in Honduras; saber
> rattling at Iran.

Agreed, and I would add capitulation to the Israelis on Palestine. But is education policy the only domestic issue on which you part company with the administration?

What about the four core issues - financial restructuring and regulation, healthcare, mortgage relief, and spending on job creation? You think the administration could not have advanced any farther? That it was, as it claims, stymied by the Republican minority in the House and Senate?



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