Here’s a tissue. 
Obama recently gave a speech at a $30k-a-plate fundraiser. He said this –
OBAMA: “Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get — to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed — oh, well, the public option wasn’t there. If you get the financial reform bill passed — then, well, I don’t know about this particularly derivatives rule, I’m not sure that I’m satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven’t yet brought about world peace and — (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation.”
Ouch. That, combined with similar statements from Robert Gibbs and Rahm Emmanuel, has a lot of progressives feeling betrayed and angry. “The president promised us all this shit and we voted for him, so how come America hasn’t instantly transformed into a progressive paradise? Obama broke his word! And now he’s saying mean things! Waaaah!”
Check out the comments section on this article from Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake. Progressives are pissed.
But let’s put this in perspective –
1) Obama is a politician. His job is to sell his accomplishments. Like every politician (or businessman, or professional athlete, or whatever), he’s going to play up his wins. Can you really blame him, confronted with a vocal group of critical progressives saying that he’s a weak-ass, for saying they’re being unreasonable? What’s the alternative?
2) Our sense of entitlement here is overwhelming. If Obama didn’t press for the public option, it’s because we didn’t do good enough a job convincing the country it was necessary. It’s because we didn’t get out there like the Tea Party and spend the time and effort to trumpet our narrative, so everybody ended up believing we were going to put grandma in front of a death panel. Cutting the public option became a political necessity, and so it happened. Boo.
I think progressives believed getting Obama elected was the end of the fight. It wasn’t. It was the beginning. And the fact that two years (and a ton of victories) later, we’re not willing to go to the polls and continue that fight is obnoxious. We’re like the asshole kids on the playground who – when we don’t like how the game is turning out – threaten to take our ball and go home. That kid sucks. Nobody likes that kid.
3) Of course we should hold Obama responsible. Of course we should express our disappointment. Jane Hamsher is right – that primary challenge in Louisiana pressured Blanche Lincoln step up and put derivatives reform into the finance bill. And continued agitation from the left got Elizabeth Warren appointed to build the Consumer Protection Agency. Hell, it would be awesome if somebody were to put together a credible primary challenge against Barack Obama from the left in 2012. It would shape the narrative and force everybody to appeal more directly to progressive concerns.
But – and this is important – that doesn’t mean that if Obama wins the primary we don’t get out there and campaign for his just as vigorously as we did in 2008. Being a Democrat is hard – it means holding a lot of positions that don’t have wealthy lobbyists behind them, and don’t draw donations from the Chamber of Commerce. All our team’s got is the passion, conviction and intelligence of its supporters. That’s you.
* * *
I’m mad, too, especially about some of this administration’s foreign policy and civil rights decisions. You know how I’m responding? By donating to the ACLU. By putting a bumper sticker about torture on my car. By letting it be known that this administration needs to be better, then doing everything I can to pressure them to do it.
So get out there this election cycle and work. It’s going to be a tough one, but every percentage point counts. Every House seat saved is a message that the left is still a force to be reckoned with. And once the election is over, keep working. You don’t get to take two years off. Stay engaged. Talk to your friends. Write angry letters on Facebook. March for something. Because the Tea Party didn’t wait until the election to get angry, and they’ve changed the entire conversation.
The kid who takes the ball and goes home doesn’t win the game. He doesn’t even get invited to play next time. Stay engaged. Fight for what you believe in. The side that works harder wins.
Progress is not a spectator sport.
[Note: Don't get all up in arms about the title and subtitle of the article. I wrote that. I don't think MWWG knows what the word "dissed" means. -ABL]
Excellent post, white guy: I feel exactly the same way and will be attending an organizing meeting this Tuesday in town to work with others who understand the stakes in this year of the Tea Parties. I have the Glenn Beck/Homer Simpson version of this choice laid out on The Glenn Beck Review:
http://www.sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/2010/09/beck-frames-voters-choice-as-progress.html
Hrm. Obama’s speech strikes me as a bit passive aggressive. That’s all for now.
I agree with everything. I think you’re comparison between the activism of the Tea Party and the apathy of the left is spot on. We on the left should do more. And we should also — I believe — be more radical. Let’s drag the political spectrum a few feet in our preferred direction. Let’s show those Tea Partiers that we can be just as crazy as them. On that note, I’m taking this opportunity to express my support for a dramatic personal income tax increase coupled with the end of social security, to be replaced by a universal wage of $10,000 to be paid to all American adults over 18.
There is just one niggling detail in your statement that I’d like to address — not because it undermines your argument, but because in politics, minor details tend to be the things that the opposition seizes upon to attack your position…
You said that “Being a democrat is hard…” Yes, it is. However, democrats do have wealthy lobbyists that back their positions. They just aren’t as wealthy or powerful as the lobbyists backing more conservative positions. And Democrats do draw donations from the chamber of commerce, although more from local chambers than from the US Chamber of Commerce (and likely less overall than Republicans, although this is hard to confirm without lots of research that I’m too lazy to do). Especially in districts where democrats are a sure thing, the local chamber tends to fund them more than republicans. Business people are more interested in buying influence across the political spectrum than in party politics. And given the cross-party embrace of free-market, liberal economics, they appear to have been remarkably successful.
Keep up the good work, MMWG. I’m off to lobby Congress.
You only said “dissed” because Obama is a Kenyan anchor baby. RACIST!!
Also, “The president promised us all this shit and we voted for him, so how come America hasn’t instantly transformed into a progressive paradise?” is spot on. I know there are paintings of him riding unicorns, but that doesn’t mean that Obama is, in fact, magic. Or virginal. Whatever.
Just like David Brooks, I don’t write the headlines. Boycott this racist blog!
HA! I’m tryin’ to keep it real here, people, GOSH.
When keeping it real goes wrong.
well-played. well-played, indeed.
well-played.
Hmmm. mid-term elections coming up… time to remind the voters of what you’ve accomplished in the office thus far… aww, shit, guess I gotta make a list now, huh?
Alright, the Obama guy: STILL with the healthcare reform?? Like THAT’S something I’d care about?
Nah, booringg. What else we got?
OH, yeah, he pulled all those combat troops out of Iraq, no worldwide destruction yet – that’s a plus there.
Lessee, I’m runnin’ out of interesting stuff here…
ummmm, restoring the nation’s economy, addressing the unemployment rate, offering hope instead of continued ass-kicking of a relatively useless country–
HOT DAMN, I KNEW I’d find the answer! This Obama guy hasn’t ONCE promised continued ass-kicking of another country that served no other purpose than to scare us into continuing to funnel every last penny of our formerly-balanced US budget to promote His war and His guaranteed re-election from His stimulating reminder of how vulnerable we’d all be if we dared to withhold support for His war!
HOW you gonna top THAT, Obama? How can I respect a sitting President who doesn’t at least make an effort to frighten me with threats of unspeakable disasters for my nation if I don’t whole-heartedly support him beyond question?
I’m sorry, you crazy liberals- you just don’t understand the priorities required to keep our precious nation under the contented flow of paranoia and deep-seated intolerance that continues to make us thrive DESPITE the contrary, ho-hum policies this presidential ‘temp’ is trying to get away with.
Give us a new WAR, Obama- give us something to get EXCITED about again if you want to keep us interested, not this lame-ass ‘recovery’ bullshit.