The Prez sounds an alarm

Interviewed for Rolling Stone, HERE:

[Signaled by his aides, the president brings the interview to a close and leaves the Oval Office. A moment later, however, he returns to the office and says that he has one more thing to add. He speaks with intensity and passion, repeatedly stabbing the air with his finger.]

One closing remark that I want to make: It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.

The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.

Everybody out there has to be thinking about what's at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money's coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.

We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard — that's what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we've got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place.

If you're serious, now's exactly the time that people have to step up.

Comments

[pablo]

The President is out of touch:

The liberal preoccupation with positive forms of propaganda ignores the root of our problem. The tea party and hate mongers on Fox such as Glenn Beck, however repugnant, are the manifestation of the crisis, not its cause. The forces assaulting the remnants of American democracy will not be cowed or discredited with rallies, such as the one in Washington on Saturday. We will blunt these rising anti-democratic forces only when we organize outside conventional systems of power. It means dismantling the permanent war economy and the corporate state. It means an end to foreclosures and bank repossessions. It means a functional health care system for all Americans. It means taking care of our poor and unemployed. And it means a system of government that is freed from corporate interests.

Mass support for anti-democratic movements and public acceptance of open violations of human rights are not caused, in the end, by the skillful dissemination of misinformation or brainwashing. They are caused by the breakdown of a society and the death of a liberal class that once made reform and representative government possible. The timidity of our liberal class was on public display during the march in Washington. Speakers may have called for jobs, but none would call on citizens to abandon the rotting hull of the Democratic Party and our moribund political system or put Wall Street speculators in prison. The speakers at the rally proposed working within the current electoral system, although most Americans are aware that it has been gamed by corporate interests. This is hardly a call, especially given the failures of the Obama administration, that will fire up the unemployed and underemployed.

(Chris Hedges, Truthdig Oct 5)

[reg]

This is really a sad example of "political analysis." It's pure masturbation and pie-in-the-sky bullshit that utterly ignores the actual interests of the poor and umemployed in the outcomes of the "current electoral system." I'm disappointed that Chris Hedges has his head so far up his ass - the narcissism of "Left" moral vanity just reeks from this piece. I knew you were childish, Pablo, but it's unfortunate that Hedges is also this remarkably disconnected from the real world.

And FYI, this nonsense is just getting tiresome. It's not even remotely challenging intellectually, morally or politically. It's just f-ing dumb.

[pablo]

It's pure masturbation and pie-in-the-sky bullshit that utterly ignores the actual interests of the poor and umemployed in the outcomes of the "current electoral system."...It's not even remotely challenging intellectually, morally or politically. It's just f-ing dumb

-------------------------

One might add that the above comment indicates that you have become what you loathe.
It would seem that the the point of Mr Hedges piece is that the "poor and unemployed" have not felt empowered by the Democrats policies and are now being used by the extreme right.

In fact if I have been reading you correctly these past months the very things that Hedges enumerates as a positive agenda for ordinary people have also been the rhetorical aspirations voice by liberal progressives. Hedges cites:

" It means dismantling the permanent war economy and the corporate state. It means an end to foreclosures and bank repossessions. It means a functional health care system for all Americans. It means taking care of our poor and unemployed. And it means a system of government that is freed from corporate interests."

Hardly a man with "his head up his ass"!
No instead, what is making Reg yet again angry is the failure of liberals to address the core needs to achieve these goals.
Again Hedges cites:

"They are caused by the breakdown of a society and the death of a liberal class that once made reform and representative government possible. The timidity of our liberal class was on public display during the march in Washington. Speakers may have called for jobs, but none would call on citizens to abandon the rotting hull of the Democratic Party and our moribund political system or put Wall Street speculators in prison."

Aside from Reg's anger the only other thing I know about him is his obvious erudition when it comes to the inside baseball of politics. I have no issue with that except to say that he does not take into account the historical backdrop which is replete with examples arising within the last century of countries which experienced a rise
of fascism because of the popular perception that liberal policies could not adequately address the magnitude of need to resolve pressing problems.
Liberals best begin to address the tea-party as a symptom, not the cause, of the need to re-examine how to confront pressing problems.
To run a political agenda based on lampooning popular discontent is a recipe for atrophy and failure.