Barack Hoover Obama???

So writes Kevin Baker in the forthcoming issue (July 2009) of Harper's. Baker's essay speaks to the growing unease among many in the reality-based community that the Obama Administration simply is not going to live up to the lofty ideals and soaring rhetoric still on display. Its a great article and filled with some superb gems. For example:

Much like Herbert Hoover, Barack Obama is a man attempting to realize a stirring new vision of his society without cutting himself free from the dogmas of the past—without accepting the inevitable conflict. Like Hoover, he is bound to fail.

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The most appalling aspect of the present crisis has been the utter fecklessness of the American elite in failing to confront it. From both the private and public sectors, across the entire political spectrum, the lack of both will and new ideas has been stunning.

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Instead, we have seen a parade of aged [Democratic] satraps from vast, windy places stepping forward to tell us what is off the table. Every week, there is another Max Baucus of Montana, another Kent Conrad of North Dakota, another Ben Nelson of Nebraska, huffing and puffing and harrumphing that we had better forget about single-payer health care, a carbon tax, nationalizing the banks, funding for mass transit, closing tax loopholes for the rich. These are men with tiny constituencies who sat for decades in the Senate without doing or saying anything of note, who acquiesced shamelessly to the worst abuses of the Bush Administration and who come forward now to chide the president for not concentrating enough on reducing the budget deficit, or for “trying to do too much,” as if he were as old and as indolent as they are.

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Describing Congress as "a neighborhood where maybe half want a health clinic and the rest are holding out for grenade launchers and crystal meth," Baker warns against the current drift (or even a "subtle strategy to ensure that the White House retains the whip hand") that will "likely to commit him to one of Congress’s nebulous non-plans."

Baker also speaks directly to an opinion shared by many frustrated Americans:

"Obama will have to directly attack the fortified bastions of the newest “new class”—the makers of the paper economy in which he came of age—if he is to accomplish anything. These interests did not spend fifty years shipping the greatest industrial economy in the history of the world overseas only to be challenged by a newly empowered, green-economy working class. They did not spend much of the past two decades gobbling up previously public sectors such as health care, education, and transportation only to have to compete with a reinvigorated public sector. They mean, even now, to use the bailout to make the government their helpless junior partner, and if they can they will devour every federal dollar available to recoup their own losses, and thereby preclude the use of any monies for the rest of Barack Obama’s splendid vision... [he] should not deceive himself into thinking that such interest-group politics can be banished any more than can the cycles of Wall Street. It is not too late for him to change direction and seize the radical moment at hand. But for the moment, just like another very good man, Barack Obama is moving prudently, carefully, reasonably toward disaster."

Personally, if SP were the President today, he's attack those "fortified bastions" with a significant increase in the income (and wealth) taxes paid by the Top 1% of American earners; he'd also put back into place a steeply progressive inheritance tax to recycle accumulated wealth back into national uses.

Baker's article speaks well to the angst and growing disillusionment already setting in on the energized progressive base. Its a compelling and convincing comparison to the failure's of that last great wunderkind to lead the country at the cusp of revolutionary change. (Hoover's life story and accomplishments before his Presidency might have elevated him to the pantheon of American Greats had his inability to deal with the Great Depression not intevened.) And it does not inspire HOPE that the Obama Administration understands that it also stands on the cusp on revolutionary secular change today.

If you already subscribe to Harper's you can read the entire article on line now. If not, grab a copy of this issue from the newstand or your local public library.

Today is Gilly Day

Yep. I'm back for a brief moment amidst the craziness that is my life these days.

If only to recognize that today is Steve Gilliard's day. A sad remembrance of the day his blog, The News Blog, went black. Steve was one heck of a writer and observer of the modern day. Once I found him, I could never get enough. And when he passed from the scene, we were all the worse for it.

Fortunately, those that knew Steve personally and through his writings keep his name alive over at the Group News Blog. Today, they are honoring Steve, his writing, and thinking about what a 2008 it would have been if Steve were around to share it.

I have no doubt that if Gilly were here today, he'd be hammering away at the Obama Administration for not fully living up to its promise -- all the while noting that he'd said during the campaign that BHO was a talented orator but at heart a centrist guy and not to buy into the rhetoric. And boy howdy, would he be having fun with the new head of the RNC - Michael Steele!

Check out Gilly's Fighting Liberal words and works by clicking on the left-side link. Savor what true journalist in 21st Century USA is and should be.

Well Gilly. Today is your day. And we remember you. But more importantly, we miss you! Wherever you are brother, keep an eye on the rest of us and if you can, give us a hand too!


PS -- I haven't forgotten my two lonely followers. Hopefully more soon! And maybe even garden pictures! SP