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We Want To Support Obama

By Big Tent Democrat

There is always a tension for Democrats regarding how to treat Democratic politicians. Republicans are always so much worse, thus the impulse is to defend or go easy on Dem pols. The thing is, we really want to support them in the most vociferous way. But most of the time they make it hard. Commenting on the story I wrote about here, Digby writes:

This [beat up the progressive base strategy] makes perfect sense because [Obama's] problem is that he's been kow-towing to the left so much that he's lost the country, what with all the war crimes investigations, the tax hikes for the rich, the crackdown on the banks, the repeal of "don't ask don't tell" and the thumbing of his nose at the Republicans every chance he gets. Not to mention the plans for full withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan by 2012 and his full blown assault on the health care industry and insistence on a Canadian style health care system. You'd think Obama would have been far, far more cautious so as not to give the Republican freakshow any possible path to demonize them as "far left." It's not like they could just make stuff up and a lot of people in America would believe it, right?

[MORE . . ]

And let's face facts, no president ever lost the good opinion of the village once he triangulated and Sistah Soljahed and "stared down his own party." Unless you count Johnson, Carter and Clinton, of course. Running that game is such a tried and true road to either a one term presidency or an impeachment that it's hard to believe the Republicans don't do the same thing.

Digby's sarcasm comes from the bitter experience many of us more wizened Dems have lived. But I do want to give Obama a piece of advice (and provide a reminder to all the Bill Clinton haters of what he did in 1993 - hint it was more than fail to pass a health care bill). In 1993, the most progressive piece of legislation from the time LBJ was President was passed. Ezra Klein won't tell you how bold Bill Clinton was, but I will. Bill Clinton raised the income tax for the wealthiest Americans and cut taxes on the the poorest working Americans (through the Earned Income Tax Credit.) BTW, Bob Rubin was around then too.

Bill Clinton's proposal was not very popular at the time. His approval ratings were well below President Obama's. But he thought that if he governed well, he would win reelection. So he used every bit of political capital he had to pass the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993. People think nothing of it today, but it did more to reduce income inequality than any other governing act since the LBJ Administration. It was more important than fuzzy health care regulations that will be honored in the breach. It was more important than an individual health care mandate.

It was opposed by EVERY SINGLE Republican and most every Blue Dog Democrat. It passed by 218-216 in the House of Representatives. It passed with Vice President Al Gore's tiebreaking vote in the Senate.

A lot of Blue Dogs lost their seats in the House and Senate. A lot of them just switched parties like Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell. The Democrats lost the Congress, no doubt in part because of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. It was also due to the fact that a lot of Democrats were representing Republican districts, especially in the South.

But President Clinton won reelection by 9 points over Bob Dole in 1996. Because Clinton's policy worked. And people came to understand that Democrats can govern. After getting blown out every 4 years in almost every Presidential election since LBJ, Democrats have never been blown out since Bill Clinton. In fact, they have won the popular vote in 2 of the 3, including Obama's decisive win in 2008.

Today, President Obama has a much more progressive Congress and and much more progressive country than Bill Clinton had. He also faces a discredited Republican Party. But he can throw all that away, by not governing well.

If President Obama REALLY believes that capitulating on health care constitutes good governance, then that is what he should do. I won't support him on that in any way. But he should do what he thinks is right.

But President Obama has said over and over again that he believes a robust public option is the BEST policy. If he truly believes that, then he needs to fight for it. Like President Clinton did for the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. Good policy is good politics.

President Clinton proved that. I can only hope President Obama will heed that lesson.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 02, 2009 (boomark / email).