General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Tired of Malignant Amnesia Anti-Obama Syndrome [View all]lovemydog
(11,833 posts)At the same time, I try and listen to some of it because some of the left's thinking is rooted in strong scholarship and deep moral concerns. For example, we do have enough in this country to take care of those who are in need of adequate food and adequate health care. I feel the dynamic between the centrist or liberal wing of the party and the leftists is quite interesting.
Yes, if it's too shrill one way or the other, I tend to ignore the poster. I look at it as crying wolf, and it diminishes their criticisms. But I do see it from different sides of the spectrum among the left. Within this thread alone, there's people attacking you for what you say, essentially arguing that President Obama is just one big corporate shill. Then there's also people in this thread saying 'ignore the left' - something I find repulsive in its arrogance and simplicity and void of any rational way of viewing the people who have traditionally helped us to see how our society can become more tolerant and more just.
So I guess I'm kind of integrationist, in that I want my thoughts on the matter to integrate both the desirable with the achievable. I say this as someone who is an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama and his Administration, and who feels that now that our economy is now more stabilized, feels we can and should move left in our politics to help reduce inequality, help preserve and expand civil rights, and help ensure that the beneficiaries of labor remain labor and not just capital. In this thinking I credit Occupy Wall Street for developing a consciousness of the 99% onto the minds of all of us in the democratic party. I also credit socialists like the city council woman in Seattle who brought the issue of raising the minimum wage to the forefront and built a popular movement based on that in her community, and did so by refusing a big salary and donating the remainder of her salary to unions. At the same time, I credit President Obama for working with what was available and advancing progressive initiatives like ending both wars, preserving and expanding health coverage, opening relations with Cuba, bringing Iran and the U.S. closer to an arms agreement, doing more to protect civil rights of women, lbgt, bailing out the auto industry - all with fierce opposition from Congress and idiocy from the corporate media.
I think one failure among the mainstream democrats is in failing to recognize the strong basis of the left in encouraging and promoting causes because they are right and they are just. The left is not just some whacko loonies. On nearly every single policy issue they are correct. They are ahead of their time. But everyone else eventually does catch up them because they are correct. The same cannot be said of the far right. So those comparisons of the far right to the far left are utter baloney.
I think one failure among the farther left is in continuing to believe that it's all up to the President to change things. It's not. It's up to each of us, individually, starting locally and working it's way up. I think another failure is those on the left who say 'don't vote.' I can never figure out if they are just ignorant of history or if they are trolling or they are just so damn arrogant that they actually are too high on their own supply. Whatever the 'reasoning', it's sheer nonsense.
One reason I respect and admire President Obama is that I believe he understands both of these ways of thinking, and can and does incorporate them every day into his agenda. I also believe both Sanders and Clinton and other strong democrats in the party do the same.
I think we can continue doing this together, without so many goddamn personal insults all the way around.