The Case Against Obama: A Confession
Anyone who has been following my blog over the past few months, or was a recipient of one of the many emails I sent, expressing horror over a corporate scandal here, a humanitarian disaster there, my extreme indignation over abuse of political power everywhere, will know that I have been an impassioned proponent of President Obama.
I did not vote for Obama in 2008. I didn't vote for McCain either. My cynicism with the whole monstrous political machine precluded my desire to participate at all four years ago. But this year, the imbecilic gaffes of Republican nominee Mitt Romney, his idiocy with regards to foreign policy (my pet subject), and his notorious 'flip-flopping' on every major issue, combined with the shattering of the Republican party into so many disagreeable factions (as well as my constant trolling of Reddit) made me a tad bit bloodthirsty, and I lost my cool. Despite a determination to remain impartial, and assess each new fact, article, and statistic with utter objectivity, my reliance on mass media and my disdain for evangelical 'fundie' Republicans led me down a very dangerous path to self-righteous partiality. This is a confession. I have made an analytical mistake, and I wish to correct myself.
Simply, I was able to ignore the very real objections to Obama simply because they were not intelligently presented by his opponents. This is wrong. Regardless of whether or not one political party is objectionable really has no bearing on whether or not the other is likewise objectionable. And in such a static two-party system as we have in the United States, it behooves one to be really honest about the credentials and accomplishments of BOTH parties. Unfortunately, my conclusion has now become that they are both rather worthless.
The following articles are long, and with the exception of esquire (which I do not typically read, and therefore cannot intelligently assess), are sourced from rather liberal news sites. They represent the 'long-lost' case against Obama. They tell a story of broken promises, hypocrisy, under-handed deals, and political inexperience resulting in terrifying political precedents. Even taken with the whole spoonful of salt which I was willing to give, they are bleak portraits of Obama's achievements thus far.
To recap a few of the most pertinent objections:
1) Since the auto-industry and bank bailouts, corporate profits have steadily risen, while home equity has remained steadily bad.
2) Occupy Wall Street, such a big issue during Obama's presidency, has accomplished very little. Wall Street remains un-curbed. In fact, the government salvation of the banking industry has merely reassured them that their actions have no real consequences.
3) Obama says he support teachers' unions, but his close ally, Rahm Emmanuel, is at the head of the movement to privatize schools.
4) The drone strikes. We are mounting attacks on an ally country and terrorizing their citizens when we know that they cannot truly object.
5) The extrajudicial killing of American citizens. Guilty or innocent, due process must be maintained. Abdulrahman-al-awlaki, 16 year old son of a terrorist, was presumed guilty and never had the chance to prove his innocence.
6) And the BIG one for me: an absence of legislature or action on the issue of climate change. Obama promised that his presidency would mark the time when the 'rise of the oceans begins to slow,' yet he now triumphantly claims that we have drastically reduced our dependency on oil and natural gas imports. How does this happen? We start producing it ourselves, giving incentives to oil companies, and encouraging practices such as frac sand mining, which devastates the environment! That is exactly the opposite of what an environmentally-minded president would do.
Now, I am under no delusions that being a president does not require compromise. A demand by the American people for lower gas prices may preclude the President's ability to act upon climate change, whatever the consequences. A demand by the American people to find Bin Laden and crush Al Qaeda may require unsavory methods of attack. A demand by the American people to save jobs and livelihoods may require the president to forfeit punishment of irresponsible financial and business entities. The American people may be stupid, ignorant, partial, and short-sighted, and a president facing reelection may be desperate to please those with the most power and influence.
I believe Obama is a good man playing in a rigged game, but so are they all. This cannot be an excuse. Obama is dangerous precisely because he is like-able and relate-able. We expect bad things from Mitt Romney and we will be quick to jump on him when he fails. But Obama has already failed, and broken his promises, and in fact supported the things which we believe him to be running against...and yet we love him still. Perhaps the old adage is true: "Don't hate the player; hate the game." Perhaps Obama may still be a better candidate than Romney, the elitist milque-toast wishy-washy tax-avoiding Mormon, but he's a hypocrite, a player, a panderer, and an oath-breaker just the same. Let us hope he does better in his second term. Cynicism, welcome back to 2012.
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/27/the_progressive_case_against_obama/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/why-i-refuse-to-vote-for-barack-obama/262861/
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/abdulrahman-al-awlaki-death-10470891
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/03/why_is_the_left_defending_obama/
