Randy Shaw: The Obama Administration honored Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6 by proposing steep cuts to two of the leading programs for the urban poor: community service grants and community development block grants (CDBG).
Fearful “Liberals” Prolong the Corruption
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Jim Fuller: Rather than being genuine political liberals and/or progressives, those self-deluding, unquestioning Obama supporters are far more closely related to the members of the various Tea Party organizations than they are to anyone on the political left.
Solar Peace, or Blood for Oil: The Need to Broaden the Peace Movement
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Tom Hayden: In his State of the Union address, President Obama opened a door through which the peace, labor and environmental movements should march, towards an energy future not dependent on resource wars.
Obama Ignored the Elephant in the Room
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Robert Reich: Obama’s failure to address the decoupling of American corporate profits from American jobs, and explain specifically what he’ll do to get jobs back, not only risks making his grand plans for reviving the nation’s “competitiveness” seem somewhat beside the point but also cedes to Republicans the dominant narrative.
Obama’s ’12 Business Bet
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Brent Budowsky: Obama is making a riverboat gamble that by doubling down on courting big business he will unleash a surge of jobs and lead resurgent Democrats to a triumph in 2012. Whether this strategy works will determine whether the 2012 campaign resembles the Reagan reelection of 1984 or the chaotic election of 1968.
The Party of “NO” Is About To Get Their Chance
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Anthony Samad: We know the Republicans will claim to support education, and jobs, and home ownership, and families but will dump them in a heartbeat for business tax credits and budget cuts.
What’s at Stake in Tax-Cut Deal
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Norman Solomon: More than two weeks after President Barack Obama announced his decision to make a tax-cut deal with Republican leaders, the shock waves continue to buffet many Democrats and others who are stunned by the grim implications.
Keeping the “Yes We Can” Spirit Alive in 2011
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Randy Shaw: The base supporting greater social and economic justice is still there to be mobilized, and activists can still tap the “Si Se Puede” (“Yes We Can”) spirit to succeed.
A Hollow Bomber Jacket
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Norman Solomon: Evidence of the Obama administration’s “moral collapse” is profuse; the pattern is clear, the consequences already terrible. During the weeks and months ahead, progressives will need to engage in fresh strategic discussions. Public candor may be insufficient, but it is necessary.
Attention Congress: Fix the Potholes
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Tina Dupuy: A politician who is against government is like an actor who is against entertainment. It’s ridiculous. Because we hate politicians so much, the only way we can stand inking a bubble next to their name is to pretend they really don’t want to do their job.
Elections a Setback for Peace
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Tom Hayden: The peace bloc – activist groups, anti-war Congress members, writers and artists, here and across the NATO – can exercise a massive drag against the war-making machine through 2012 as long as the wars remain deeply unpopular.
It Was a Very Weird Year
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Tom Degan: As pissed off as the conservatives are about being taxed by the naughty negro in the White House, recent polling shows that the overwhelming majority of them are unaware of the fact that ninety-five percent of them are actually being taxed less under this president then they were under the previous one (Remember that guy?)
Word To “The Motha:” Isn’t It Nice to Have Landed on the Right of History?
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Anthony Samad: Diane Watson had to be dragged, kicking and screaming the whole way, to the right side of history. And now she’s serving the first African American President and part of a Congress that passed universal health care, something she worked her whole life for in the California legislature and something seven Presidents couldn’t do.
A Helleva of a Choice (but I’ma Have to Support My President)
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Anthony Samad: As ugly as it is out there for some Democrats, one in particular-in California-y’all know who I’m talking about, I’m going to have to trust the President on this election.
The Base’s Hissy Fit
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Tom Degan: Then there is the core of the Democratic vote, the so-called “base”. Like the half-witted six-year-old who didn’t receive the toy he wanted for Christmas, they’re in the process of having a blue-faced tantrum. Because they didn’t get all of that nice hope and change stuff that Barack Obama promised them two years ago, they’re just going to stay home and sulk on Election Day.
Obama Throws White House Support Behind DREAM Act
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Seth Hoy: Although the President has pledged his support for the DREAM Act, mounting GOP opposition will make it increasingly difficult for Sen. Harry Reid to find the 60 votes necessary for cloture on the amendment next week, assuming the Defense Authorization bill makes it through round one, the motion to proceed, next Tuesday.
The Enthusiasm Gap or He’s Just a President
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Tina Dupuy: The fact is: Obama is a good president. He’s a centrist who is somewhere between what mouth-foamers on either extreme say about him. He does listen to all viewpoints, which makes people of some viewpoints – ironically – dislike him. He’s not the villain the insane Right says he is, nor is he the do-nothing turncoat the insane Left says he is.
An Old Fart’s Admonition: Please, Don’t Let Yourself Get Disillusioned
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Bob Letcher: NPR reported that many of the first-time voters in 2008, whose votes provided Obama his winning margin, might stay home in the upcoming elections. To them I say, please vote.
Education is THE Economic Issue of Our Time
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Bob Letcher: In the few weeks since President Obama so emphatically linked his education program to his effort to revive the US political economy, the President has not been pressed to detail either the substance of his education program or his procedure for winning support from a public that is increasingly cynical, skeptical, frightened, and angry.
The Great Jobs Depression Worsens, and the Choice Ahead Grows Starker
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Robert Reich: If there was ever a time for bold government action it is precisely now. Obama should be storming the country, demanding the largest responses to the jobs emergency in history. He and the Dems should be giving Republicans hell for their indifference to all this.
The Two Stories of This Terrible Economy, Yet Obama and the Dems Won’t Tell Theirs
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Robert Reich: Republicans lack specific policies but they have a story. Obama and the Democrats have lots of specific policies but don’t have a story. That spells even more trouble for Democrats.
Let Our Fear Be More Accurate
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Tina Dupuy: The U.S. just spent a trillion dollars “liberating” Muslims in two countries and helping them democratically elect leaders. You’d think we’d all be super pro-Muslim judging by our national budget. But no, “Muslim” has a negative connotation because of terrorists on 9/11.
If You’re Not Angry and Bitter, You’re Not Paying Attention
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A one-sentence comment posted in the blogosphere really nails it. As the political hissy-fit over Barack Obama’s “bitter” remarks continues to heave itself on the floor like some three-year-old tantrum-thrower in the canned soup aisle at the grocery store, a blogger calling herself Lugnut spells it out: “If you’re not angry and bitter, you’re not [...]
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