Progressiva i uppror mot Obama

Den progressiva bas som gav Obama segern i förra års presidentval (i synnerhet i primärvalet mot Hillary Clinton) har länge varit missnöjda med många delar av sin presidents politik gällande såväl gay-rörelsen som Afghanistan. Men presidentens nuvarande tama hållning till sjukvårdsreformen tycks ha fått bägaren att rinna över. Här har Ed, på den liberala The Ed Show en direkt vädjan till president Obama - följt av intervjuer och diskussioner kring huruvida Obama är en sell-out eller ej:

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Den progressiva bloggen americablog.com drar också en parallell med Bush, och eftersom det är så sällan progressiva talar gott om Bush, så tål delar av inlägget att citeras:

"I've heard people say that it's not fair to criticize the Democrats for botching health care reform because the Democrats never truly had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Sure, they have 60 votes in principle, the argument goes, but with Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu, and Bayh counted as four of those votes, it's not really a solid 60.

Perhaps. But then how was George Bush so effective in passing legislation during his presidency when he never had more than 55 Republicans in the Senate?"

Och lite längre fram:

"What the GOP lacked in numbers, they made up for in backbone, cunning and leadership. Say what you will about George Bush, he wasn't afraid of a fight. If anything, the Bush administration, and the Republicans in Congress, seemed to relish taking on Democrats, and seeing just how far they could get Democratic members of Congress to cave on their promises and their principles. Hell, even Senator Barack Obama, who once famously promised to lead a filibuster against the FISA domestic eavesdropping bill, suddenly changed his mind and actually voted for the legislation. Such is the power of a president and a congressional leadership with balls and smarts."

Och vidare:

"It's not about the votes, people. It's about leadership. The current occupant of the White House doesn't like to fight, and the leadership in Congress has never been as good at their jobs, at marshaling their own party, as the Republicans were when they were in the majority... ...When you have a President who is constitutionally, or intellectually, unable to stand for anything, and a congressional leadership that, rather than disciplining its own members and forging ahead with its own agenda, cedes legislative authority to a president who refuses to lead, you have a recipe for exactly what happened last night. Weakness, chaos, and failure.

We lost real health care reform not because we don't have a "real" filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. We lost health care reform because we don't have a real leader anywhere in our party."

I samband med Liebermans utspel i sjukvårdsdebatten läste jag någonstans att någon ansåg att Lieberman tyckte om att tortera progressiva. Det måhända, men de tycks för närvarande känna sig minst lika plågade av sin president i fråga. Hur Obama hanterar missnöjet hos sin väljarbas ska bli väldigt spännande att följa.

Se även tidigare inlägg:

Obamas opinionsstöd ett år senare 20091217

Senatens sjukvårdsreformprocess sammanfattas 20091216