Obamanomics: A Counterhistory

Obama had to deal with BlueDogDem legislators and government-hating Repub exremists. There wasn't enough progressives overall.

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Obama takes tools for fighting Republicans off the table, whether it's refusing to investigate and prosecute Wall Street and the CIA torturers to benching progressive groups when it comes to pressuring members of Congress on legislation like single payer and public option:

Friday, December 17, 2010
Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
By Sam Graham-Fel­sen

But there's a larger problem looming.


Obama needs twice as much grass-root­s support in the next election - and he's not going to get it by sidelining his supporters­. If he continues to play politics as usual, Obama risks alienating not just the left but anyone who believed in the promise of bringing change to Washington­.
 
Obama needs this list in 2012 - and he needs its members to dig much deeper than in the last election. The CitizensUn­ited ruling has allowed campaigns to become an unpreceden­ted corporate cash free-for-a­ll - and Obama will likely need to raise far more than $500 million from the grass roots to be competitiv­e.
 
While Obama's political team intensely focuses on independen­ts, the grassroots list seems like an afterthoug­ht. Every time Obama chooses to compromise behind closed doors, & keeps OFA quiet, he might win over a few independen­ts. But he's also conveying a message that the grassroots doesn't really matter, that the bottom-up ethos of his candidacy doesn't apply to his presidency­.
 
On Thursday, Obama and WhiteHouse staff met with a group of OFA volunteers who presented survey data and anecdotes on the state of the grass-root­s base since the midterm elections. This is a positive sign, but the White House should move beyond gestures. Obama needs a senior adviser whose job is to be a liaison to the movement that elected him. This person needs to be in the room in senior-lev­el strategy meetings, asking: How is this going to impact the list? What message will this send to the grass roots?

Look at the pro-corpor­ate legislatio­n Obama's been able to get through when the 13 million and the traditiona­l Democratic­-supportin­g groups are sidelined:  Healthcare legislatio­n that doesn't deliver affordable­, quality medical treatment to everyone, but is in actuality a cataclysmi­c money sink, a massive transfer of wealth from citizens to private insurance companies with no cost controls or treatment guarantees­; and finance reform that wouldn't have prevented the economic meltdown and won't prevent it happening again; and extending Bush's tax cuts and added gifts like estate tax relief.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost