I started writing about the consequences of President Obama’s futile attempt at “bipartisanship” from the beginning of his term in office.  I also pointed out the FOLLY of surrounding himself with Washington AND Wall Street INSIDERS as he began his historic administration.  I, along with MILLIONS of other LIBERALS (progressives – we seem to have given up that word “liberal” in the face of the republican propoganda machine), began pointing out the “mistakes” as they were unfolding only to be referred to as “f___ing liberals” by Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.  When Emanuel received no consequence for lashing out at the “base” I knew we were in BIG TROUBLE.  And, I wish I could put this differently, but I’m just now getting a grasp at how big the trouble is.  I’m feeling that President Obama and those surrounding him got EXACTLY the WRONG message from the recent midterm election.

Now that I’ve seen the president in action for almost two years I have to admit that I almost anticipated this.  He’s already reaching out to republicans in a way that I’m guessing will allow them to succeed in getting the “Bush tax cuts” extended.  Remember, if they’re extended for even two years the republicans will be chomping at the bit in 2012 to get them “permanently extended” then.  This will be another in what’s appearing like a long line of “deja vu’s all over agains.”  (OK, I “get” that was a bit awkwardly put)  And, if we haven’t reached depression stage with our economy by then, we’ll be even more on the “brink.”  I think I’ve already written this, but if Obama “caves” on this one, he won’t even get the democratic nomination for re-election.  What’s TOTALLY ironic to me is the so-called “tea partiers” railing against the deficit, yet supporting the tax cuts, the wars, and all the corporate welfarism that runs Washington DC.  It makes about as much sense as when Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea:  “I’ll cut taxes and balance the budget.”  Voodoo economics then, voodoo economics NOW!

President Obama has cringed when he’s been dubbed “republican-lite” by those of us who really want him to succeed and he, along with his supporters like Randi Rhodes, are quick to reel off a list of accomplishments that would separate him from republicans.  Yes, he’s headed in a different direction in the overt decisions of his administration, but when you look a little deeper, it’s a lot closer to “business as usual.”  That is what has the “liberals” upset and that is why they stayed home in November.  Personally, I voted in November, but I’m thinking this is maybe a necessary “correction” (I’m an optimist by nature) because most of the democrats who were “purged” from Congress (with a few notable exceptions – and, I have to add here that, in my mind, Alan Grayson of Florida is one of my favorite politicians.  Talk about your congressperson with the guts to speak the truth as he sees it – without fear of losing his seat – which he lost.  But we need more leaders willing to speak their minds without putting re-election ahead of their values) were the so-called “blue dogs.”  The democratic party is in need of a remolding to get it back to Main Street and away from Wall Street.  If Obama doesn’t figure out what’s really happening, and FAST, the struggle to save this nation from the suffocating grip of multinational corporations will become even more daunting.

“Grass roots” is a great notion, and it can be very powerful.  But, you need leaders to guide the “ship.”  Take the “tea party” for example.  They had a convention with something like 600 people attending.  Their movement has been inspired by corporate cronies with unlimited funds to spend on advertising, TV personalities with mammothly egotistical agendas, and Americans who – whether you want to believe this or not – just can’t handle someone who’s not “white” in the White House.  Unfortunately for those of us who are shaking our heads that this phenomenom could reach such “heights” in present day America, President Obama has taken the wrong turn at almost EVERY intersection when confronting this.  I’ve been listing these things for almost two years, but I’m going to do it again (relax, I’ll try to be a bit abbreviated :o) because if Obama doesn’t start fighting back, those on the left need to begin looking for a different leader – YOU HAVE TO HAVE A LEADER!  (That’s where I believe the “tea partiers” are going to fall short – I think their agenda is likely to conflict with the “republican” agenda, and the fallout could be very interesting to say the least – remember, their de facto leader is Sarah Palin)

I wrote about this to the point that I probably turned off some of the 300 or so of you reading these posts (I still find it hard to believe anyone found my spot in cyberspace) – but President Obama’s decision to BLOCK all investigations of the Bush/Cheney administration will go down in history as one of the major presidential BLUNDERS of all time.  That decision alone GAVE the debate back to the republicans.  It was like showing blood to a shark in the water.  It showed Obama to be indecisive and basically spineless – not up for a good fight.  He said at the time he wanted to “look forward instead of back” – which is absurd on its face – I’ve pointed out that using his logic (and he’s a constitutional lawyer) there would never be another crime committed in America – because you have to look back AFTER THE CRIME’S BEEN COMMITTED!  He also said he didn’t want the “distraction” of all the investigations (and, there would have probably been an endless stream of them because the fraud, abuse, and outright lawbreaking was routine in the Bush/Cheney White House).  Well, what Obama got were way more “distractions” anyway.  (not to mention the “distractions” Obama’s going to be facing with a republican chairing the House government oversight committee in the next congress)  He (and the rest of us) would have been much better off had the “distractions” been focused on what Bush/Cheney did illegally instead of on Obama caving in on one piece of legislation after another.

Let me refresh your memory.  Obama took office with two wars being mismanaged, the economy was on the precipice of disaster, the government itself had been essentially dismantled, jobs were being lost at a rate approaching 1 MILLION per MONTH, and the previous president was leaving town with his “tail between his legs.”  I’m dead serious when I say that in the last few months of his presidency George W Bush looked like a “deer in the headlights.”  I’m not even sure he realized the magnitude of destruction he had imposed on America and the rest of the world.  In fact, it was Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen – former head of Goldman Sachs who was intimately involved in the risk taking abuses which led to the “meltdown” – who created the TARP bailout that so angered MILLIONS of Americans.  It was forgivable for Obama to vote for the bailout as a senator, but it was unforgivable for him to then ally himself with Tim Geithner (also intimately involved in the process leading to the crash) and Larry Summers (another Goldman Sachs alum who was instrumental in the repeal of Glass Steagall which allowed the Wall Street banks to become “too big to fail”) and then BLOCK all investigations into the impropriety of what was being done in the name of (and to) the taxpayers.

By abandoning what should have been a process to uncover ALL the wrongdoings in an attempt to make certain they didn’t happen again, President Obama opened himself up for the absurd criticism which has led to, as of the mid term elections, upwards of HALF of American voters believing it was Obama who engineered the TARP bailouts.  I realize this is an indictment of what I call the “low information voters” in America (there’s your opening Lars), but the president is the LEADER!  The investigations would have made things clear.  Also, they possibly could have uncovered ahead of time the malfeasance which led to the mine disaster in West Virginia and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  In both of those instances, culpibility goes right back to regulatory agencies “in bed” with corporate interests in such a way to save them money at the risk of their employees lives.  To me, that is ALL unacceptable!  Now we have energized republicans sans “tea partiers” clamoring for less taxes, less regulation, less government, and – oh yes – a balanced budget.  And, for good measure, they’re not only happy to be bumbling through TWO wars indefinitely, they want to increase instead of decrease our nuclear arsenal and many of them would love to invade Iran!

It gets worse.  I realize that the republicans could care less about how America is viewed by the rest of the world, but the reality is that it’s very important and we are in a state of accelerating decline.  It’s almost as if we’re shooting oursleves in the foot and we’re wondering how it happened.  For anyone reading this who is unaware of the economic realities of the day, much of America’s HUGE debt is held by foreign nations.  The dollar is tenuous, at best, in it’s role as the leading international currency.  And, America and it’s voting base seems to be oblivious to the potential of this impending disaster (and that would be the world turning away from the dollar).  We have become a nation of consumers and we’ve evolved to consumers who have to borrow to purchase goods.  2008 seems to have been the breaking point of our ability to continue borrowing so that we could keep consuming.  However, we’ve also – since the days of Reagan – been actually promoting American businesses to locate “over seas.”  Well, not only have the jobs been going over seas but so has our technology – which is the real prize in the eyes of the Chinese, the Indians, and others.  Keep in mind, once they build their own economies sufficiently, they have PLENTY of consumers.  Combine this with America’s imperialistic tendencies which are turning nation after nation off and I hope you can see the writing on the wall.  The cycle of greed that seems to have a grip on the corporate elite in America is choking the rest of us, it’s risking our position as the “leaders of the free world,” and – combined with “Citizens United” and the republican propoganda machine which controls our media – it’s threatening to leave our children with a nation in ruins.

Because of Obama’s decision to “look forward instead of back” we now have a bunch of extreme right wing “whackos” energized to bring our government to a halt.  They don’t want to “fix” the health care bill (which SHOULD have included a “PUBLIC OTPION” for ALL) they want to repeal it.  They don’t want to make sure the “too big to fail” banks don’t screw us again, they want to repeal regulations protecting us from them.  25% of the voters in the recent election were over 65 and now we’re looking at a scaling back or repeal of Social Security and Medicare.  They want to destroy public education, arguably the MAIN REASON America has reached such lofty heights.  (This hit “full steam ahead” with “No Child left Behind” and unfortunately is continuing to accelerate under Obama – we give schools mandates, we just don’t give them the resources necessary to carry the mandates out)  As someone approaching 65 I’m actually ashamed that these older Americans have been taking from this country for their entire lives and now are voting against the very programs which have benefitted them.  Of course, they don’t want to take away benefits now, just from their children and grandchildren.  I honestly don’t get it.  These people won’t believe in issues such as Climate Change until New York or Los Angeles is under water.

Worse than those “challenges” facing “progressives” in the coming two years, by “looking forward” President Obama has allowed George W Bush and Dick Cheney to travel this great nation essentially BRAGGING about authorizing TORTURE.  Again, in the eyes of the world now, we’re a nation that believes in TORTURE!  All the “human rights” posturing aside, I can’t believe we’ve evolved to this.  Does Obama really believe that by him saying we won’t TORTURE anymore that it makes it so?  Come on here!  TORTURE is a WAR CRIME!  It not only violates our own laws and international laws, it violates the Geneva Conventions which we were instrumental in setting up as the supporters of “human rights.”  The other day I was forced to listen again to George W Bush ADMITTING to authorizing WATERBOARDING and then claiming that by doing so he “saved lives.”  That is complete BULL S#*@!  EVERY professional interrogator I’ve heard interviewed or read has pointed out that waterboarding gets NO actionable intelligence.  Khalid Sheik Mohammed was providing actionable intelligence UNTIL he was waterboarded (183 TIMES!) after which he began trying to tell the interrogators anything to get them to stop.  Aside from that – waterboarding is a WAR CRIME!  If you do it, or if you authorize it, you have committed a WAR CRIME!  As far as I understand the legal system, it’s as simple as that.  Obama has created an environment where Bush is comfortable traveling from city to city bragging about this.  Again, UNBELIEVABLE to me.

So, we’re stuck with democratic leaders who are supporting Bush/Cheney illegal actions in court (warrantless wiretapping), supporting secrecy in government by defending the “State’s Secrets privilege” in court – something abused beyond belief by Bush/Cheney, who backed off of sufficient stimulus in the face of republican opposition at the beginning of Obama’s term, who willingly dropped the “Public Option” despite support from almost 75% of the public, and on and on.  The democrats have shown no willingness or capability to “take on” the republican propaganda machine.  Give the republicans credit – they are “out messaging” the democrats as if it’s men against boys.  The problem is that due to their lack of resolve during the past two years, they are going to need MORE resolve in the next two.  And, the initial indications I’m seeing since the mid terms is NOT good.  I’ve heard leading democrats already willing to throw in the towel on the tax cuts – I’ve pointed out here several times, just let them expire.  It’s time for Americans to start paying for the services we need – including TWO WARS!  The so-called “Deficit Commission” – who’s leaders made an initial report yesterday – have drunk the republican “coolaid” before any negotiations take place!  Republicans have somehow convinced the American public that taking care of the “rich” is the government’s main function.  It’s like we’re headed to 1929 ALL OVER AGAIN!  The battle against this impending corporatocracy will require courageous leadership.  It will require politicians who are not bought and paid for by the very interests who are undermining our nation.  It will require politicians far more courageous than those presently leading the democratic party.

I’m going to end with a couple thoughts – thoughts that will kind of lay out the prospects of what lies ahead for the next two years.  Within a couple weeks the so-called 99ers will lose their unemployment benefits.  Are the democrats going to make a stand in the lame duck session?  That alone will tell us a lot.  And, of course, with inaction the “Bush tax cuts” will expire.  I am in favor of letting them expire – I don’t believe the democrats have the guts to do so (that would raise mine and probably your taxes).  Short of that, they could propose IN THE HOUSE the extension of tax cuts for anyone making less than what seems to be the “in” cut off for “rich vs poor” – $250,000 – and send it to the senate – putting republicans in the senate on the spot to either vote for tax cuts for 98% of Americans or against it.  I seriously doubt that this president and this democratic congress has even the will to do something like that – which is arguably supported by 80% of the public – because they are cowering to the response by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and the other right wing “talkers” who would figure out a way to demonize leaving those at the top out of the picture.  Those two issues will pretty much define, in my view, what we – as progressives – face for the next two years.