“Pundit with a clue” kind of ignorant

In response to a formerly rec-listed diary on dailykos I have this to say:

From a Washington Post article: “The Post-ABC poll found that the number of liberal Democrats who strongly support Obama’s record on jobs plunged 22 points from 53 percent last year to 31 percent.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/more-americans-unhappy-with-obama-on-economy-jobs/2011/07/25/gIQABJ9sZI_story.html

So, perhaps the problem is not simply “Progressives don’t have a clue” about the President, and it may have more to do with the President not understanding progressives.

Same thing goes for moderates, with the latest Pew Poll showing Obama’s approval down to 36% among independents.
http://people-press.org/2011/07/28/obama-loses-ground-in-2012-reelection-bid/

Now, I don’t like to call the people who support the President without question names or disparage their positions, but clapping louder is not going to get us anywhere when important problems like the future of our social safety net is at stake. Or when the people who are supposed to be advocating for democratic values propose plans entirely made up of tax cuts in order to appease the unappeasable.

I have yet to hear politicians on the left making a strong case for a truly democratic type debt-limit solution. Yes, we know that these kinds of plans are unlikely to get past both the Senate and the House, but they should be pushed anyways to get those proposals included in the national conversation.  We cannot put the blame solely on Democrats within the two houses, because the President should be leading the way by promoting more democratic proposals and encouraging his party to come up with workable plans to show a contrast from conservative ideology.

If you do not try, you cannot succeed.

THAT is what the so-called-pragmatic President Obama has failed to understand about the debates over the deficit, the health care debate, and the Bush tax cuts. He has failed to promote progressive ideals. And yes, having an ideology is NOT necessarily a bad thing.
We all have ideals; the only thing that separates the ideological from the supposedly non-ideological is how fiercely those people will defend their own personal truths.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about the alleged strategy of the Administration, yet we have all seen less than stellar results. Pursuit of perfection being the enemy of good policy is not the issue here.  What is disturbing is the rightward slant of every single political issue with a halfhearted and weak progressive response. While progress is much harder than destruction, with few exceptions we have seen politicians on the left from the top down compromising on important issues far too often, and working from a position of weakness.

Defending the Administration when there is legitimate criticism will not protect the President, and condescending to progressives about how little we understand the President will not win over the people who are concerned about the possibility of losing important benefits.
I believe that my position is similar to many on this site and progressives in general. We WANT to support the President, but we have cause for doubt. Part of the President’s job is to win our trust and lead on important issues.
It is our job as Progressives to push for improvements and demand accountability.

~ by deviant24x on July 29, 2011.