The Obama Debacle

Like most people of good will I was hoping that Obama would actually implement some of the changes he campaigned on. I never had any illusions about his ultimate political stance, he was and is after all a typical neo-liberal Democrat, but I thought that the times and emerging Progressive sentiments would force him to accommodate to the electoral base that elected him. I was, like so many others, quite moved by his ascension to the “throne.” It was, after all, a remarkable event. Nevertheless, I, like many others, was quickly disabused of our lingering illusions with his administration’s caving in to Wall Street interests and Health Care moguls. His political acumen, which many thought was his ace up the sleeve, has turned out to be not quite as astute as some had imagined. He has in fact facilitated, with the exponential growth of the Tea Party movement, the re-emergence of some of the most rabid elements in the American body politic to be seen in more than half a century. Now there is talk of a “course correction” to salvage whatever political capital he has left. Don’t hold your breath.

The great fallacy here is of course the two party system, with each party representing contending elements of the corporate elite. Whatever reforms are implemented are the crumbs that the ruling class deems sufficient to quell the discontent generated by decades of economic decline, foreign wars, a disintegrating domestic infrastructure and plummeting living standards. So far to no avail. The American people are thus faced with a ridiculous conundrum, either accept the half-hearted reforms that the Democrats have to offer, or show their displeasure by voting for the jingoistic opposition party even though they’ve been thoroughly discredited and rejected by the self same electorate.

The bankruptcy of the two party bourgeois democratic electoral system should be manifest for all to see, but we’ve been in this political cul de sac for far too long and most of us are inured to its failures. The high tide of the resurgent progressive movement will assuredly quickly recede as centrist Democrats will quickly accuse progressives of pushing the party too far to the left. This of course will only increase the cynicism of the electoral base (minorities, the young, anti-war activists and anti-corporatists) that helped elect Obama in the first place, deflect from their participation in the 2010 mid-term elections and lead to the Democrats being in an ever more precarious political position that plays right into the hands of the Republicans. So much for the Obama “revolution.”

Of course, neither the Democrats nor Republicans will fill the economic hole that we find ourselves in. As our economy stagnates and China’s continues to surge ahead, we will eventually have to face the fact that fundamental change in our socio-economic and political system needs to occur if we are ever again to meet the basic needs of the American people.