Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 12. August 2010 / Timeline August 12, 2010
Version 3.511. August 2010, 13. August 2010
08/12/2010 Lack of Progress
Frustrates Public
By Don Monkerud
Hopes for change are turning to disappointment as Congress fails to
meet goals for a progressive agenda.
While only 11 percent of Americans have confidence in Congress, Barack Obama is still
the most popular politician for good reason. The St. Petersburg
Times, which tracks campaign promises, found that Obama kept 91 and
made progress on 285 of his 502 2008-campaign promises. Fourteen
were "broken," while 87 are stalled. Of his most significant 25
promises, 20 were kept or remain in process.
Of these significant promises, Obama is on track to ramp down
Bush's Iraq War: He ended the F-22 boondoggle; banned torture;
insisted the military policy of "don't ask, don't tell" end;
increased budgets for AmeriCorps and the national parks; and
induced Pakistan to control Islamic terrorists. He also ended the
Homeland Security pork barrel for states with minimal terrorist
threats, his economic stimulus package prevented a deeper
depression, and 16 million poor people have Medicaid for the first
time.
Intransigent conservatives hold up other progressive policies. The
on-going GOP stalemate led Democrats to pass bills with slim
margins and delay issues such as immigration reform, global
warming, campaign finance reform, and energy policy. The GOP
blunted the economic stimulus, reform of the monopoly-controlled
healthcare insurance industry, and financial reform.
Americans expect more because they haven't noticed the extent of
the structural transformation after thirty years of laissez-faire
capitalism run amok. Economic and governmental restructuring proves
difficult to reverse, partly because conservative members of both
political parties promoted many of the changes.
Corporate lobbyists are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to
prevent or water down reforms. In addition, Democrats gained a
majority in Congress in the last election by supporting
ultra-conservative candidates in traditionally Republican
districts. These interests now demand more conservative
programs.
The GOP moves to the right, driving out moderates. They rail
against RINOs, or "Republicans in name only," demand doctrinaire
purity, refuse to compromise, and do everything in their power to
stymie Obama. They hope voters will forget that the GOP created the
economic mess, and become so fed up with infighting that they will
avoid the polls at the next election. By counting on staunch
supporters-nationalists, anti-abortionists, racists, the old and
the wealthy-to vote, they hope to gain a majority in Congress and
defeat Obama's agenda.
Lacking new ideas, the GOP continues to resist change-the House has
passed over 300 bills, which the GOP Senate minority will not take
up. The party promotes the same policies that got us into the
economic mess: no taxes and no regulation. By giving corporations a
free reign, they believe that a mythical free economy will solve
all of our problems.
Hardy bands of corporate-sponsored fringe groups, plus a supportive
Supreme Court, propose taking the country back to 1776. This odd
group of libertarians, religious fanatics, tax refuseniks, gun
nuts, and gay bashers, support a strict return to their
interpretation of the Constitution, and promise to repeal all
progressive legislation.
Meanwhile, progressives are disillusioned with a lack of progress.
They accuse Obama of: pandering to Wall Street bankers; pitting
state school systems against each other to win federal money,
promoting merit pay for teachers, and pushing charter schools;
backing down on a government-run alternative to monopoly health
insurance; and increasing the war effort in Afghanistan. They
disagree with Obama's failure to prosecute war crimes by Bush,
Cheney and the CIA; his crackdown on immigration, which exceeds
that of Bush; and the dropping of legislation guaranteeing workers
the right to organize.
They rail against Obama's methodical responses and cool exterior,
which lack the passion needed to rally public support for
overcoming the power of lobbyists in the insurance and banking
industries, which each spent over $1 billion to derail reforms.
Despite a myriad of problems, including the greatest man-made
environmental disaster in U.S. history, the BP spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, jobs and the economy remain the most important issues for
Americans. Over fifteen million Americans are out of work, home
foreclosures continue, and job creation lags behind job losses.
Americans resent the rich who are doing well. In 2009, the top 25
hedge fund managers received pay totaling $25 billion, more than
they received before the economic collapse. After accepting a
bailout, six large banks are increasing their political and
economic power, increasing their proportion of asset holdings by
300 percent since the mid 1990's (now 60 percent of GNP).
In 2008, nine banks receiving TARP funds paid their CEOs $32
billion in bonuses while they continued to engage in high-risk
gambles on derivatives and option contracts, resisted oversight,
and refused to write-down their losses from bad loans. The economy
remains adrift and volatile.
There's a huge crisis of faith and a lack of confidence in the U.S.
Working people, forgotten by the media, are demoralized. They did
not benefit from the economic boom, but are paying the price of its
failure. Corporate money is hijacking politics, aided by the
Supreme Court and the GOP. Resentment grows. While America wallows
in the Bush-Cheney Era of reactionary politics, the prospects for
progressive change may well slip away.
 |
 |