On Jul 16, 2011, at 8:02 PM, Marv Gandall wrote:
> Agreed. It's curious to see Wojtek indicting as vulgar economic determinists precisely those who say the Obama administration could have taken a different course well within the constraints imposed on it by American capitalism. I don't share the Trotskyist view, dating back in the 30's, that the crisis of the working class is essentially a "crisis of leadership", but it seems to me the 2008 election was one of those infrequent historical moments when leadership does assume a decisive importance - when the masses are aroused by a serious crisis, and the opportunity for significant structural reform presents itself. One can argue that it is Wojtek and others who say that Obama was too constrained by the system to do other than what he did who in this instance neglect the role of "agency", a charge Woj not infrequently likes to hurl at his critics.
Also part of the problem, though not the major part, given the configurations of power in the USA: all those "progressives for Obama" who promised to "hold his feet to the fire" (as if they could get close enough to his ankles to do that) did nothing of the sort. They hung back and concocted apologias.
Doug