President Obama’s Persistent Strategic Error: Mistaking Inside-the-Beltway Reality for “Real” Reality

http://politics2100.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/politicalreality/

Progressives and others who are concerned about the content of discussion in Washington are now divided on a critical issue:  to what degree should one hold responsible President Obama for errors or failures in the last two years, as well as the strengthening of Republicans after Democrats’ decisive electoral defeats of the GOP in 2006 and 2008?  These divisions depend on how different supporters and former supporters of Obama would answer a number of relevant questions:

1. What would you like to see happen in Washington and in politics more generally?
2. What do you believe is the current and potential power of the American Presidency?  How important is the “bully pulpit” and the President’s influence on popular opinion?
3. How important is “supporting your team” (in the upcoming election) as opposed to holding out for principled policy?
4. Is Obama at heart a progressive or more of a center-right corporatist or neo-liberal (right-wing on economics, left of center on social issues)?   Or is he simply a careerist without strong ideological commitments?
5. Will Obama always concede to his opponents rather than fight?
6. Do major crises in the real world require leaders to overcome their personal inclinations?

Those who tend to have very ambitious hopes for President Obama or feel that the dire situation of the world calls for dramatic and decisive action, are much more inclined to criticize him.  Also those who feel that the Presidential “bully pulpit” is a critical piece of political weaponry feel that he has been a major disappointmentwhile those who feel that the Presidency has limited powers are more appreciative of his performance.  There are some who fear that it will weaken the President if progressives criticize him, pointing out that Republicans band together much better than Democrats.  Others feel that they must continue to point out his shortcomings, in the hope that he changes his policy or his strategy.

My perspective is that Obama and other Democrats need to be held accountable to what I’m calling “real” reality, the economic reality of Main Street, as well as the real physical reality of the earth’s degradation by our own species as home for…our own species.  Obama, as would any President, has had the potential to mobilize the grassroots in favor of his agenda or an agenda that is more favorable to the interests of “Main Street”, but that he has not done so, disempowering himself and the Presidency at a time of justified popular anger.  I believe that severe real world crises force leaders to confront their own personal preferences and limitations; America in 2008 required a new FDR or a President of similar ambition and nerve.  I care about Obama’s “heart of hearts” commitments and personality only insofar as they impact the American people.

I have been trying to locate a way to describe as simply as possible the common thread among Obama’s political mistakes while avoiding making a statement that is a condemnation of his character, his fundamental political principles, or attributes to him a permanent trait that bars improvement in his performance as President.  Given these assumptions that there is no fundamental flaw, I have come up with a formulation that makes sense of many of his major political mistakes so far.

Obama’s Political Mistakes Catalogued

Here is my catalogue of Obama’s political mistakes that have at times been echoed by people with varying political ideologies

1. Appointment of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner as leaders of economic team/largely uncritical collaboration with financial interests invested in a Ponzi Economy/ignoring debt write-downs as solution to crisis/anemic financial reform package positions Administration with Wall Street against Main Street.
2. Refusal to investigate or prosecute wrongdoing during Bush Administration/lack of differentiation between Obama and Bush policy regimes
3. Inadequately large 2009 fiscal stimulus package diluted by tax cuts/omission of a large “Green New Deal” infrastructure program.
4. Agreement that reducing public deficits was an urgent priority through speeches and appointment of a deficit commission weighted towards deficit hawks
5. Health care reform prioritized before general economic, debt, and jobs policies
6. Health care reform tailored to large corporate interests in health care including insurance andpharmaceutical lobbies/non-profit single-payer insurance (Medicare for all) system not considered
7. Pretense that “enough had been done” for the economy in 2010.
8. Continuing efforts to find common ground with Republicans bent on destruction of his Presidency/choice to chide rather than expose Republicans/implicit acceptance of Republicans distorted worldview.
9. Lack of a post-oil, post-carbon energy and climate policy built upon a “Green New Deal” foundation/ongoing giveaways and apologia for fossil fuel companies.
10. Afghanistan“surge” premised on demonstrating an appearance of toughness rather than on-the-ground realities in that country.
11. Underestimation of the effects of criticisms and slander of Obama on the Democratic Party/underestimation of the Tea Party and non-party right-wing political action groups
12. Demobilization and disappointment of his political base.

While this is a long list, with which some may quarrel, I think that many of these errors can be condensed in a way that enables enlightenment and learning rather than condemnation.  I believe that Obama has become lost or has chosen to lose himself in “Inside-the-Beltway” political reality which exists at some remove from real reality.