Obama's Populism (it's a defense of his latest actions & asks for more)

[Divine Discontent]

www.huffingtonpost.com/blackberry/p.html?id=1192908
snip of longer article ...


Robert Kuttner: Obama's
Populism

January 8, 2012 19:24:10

It would be nice if we had a word like
"populist" that meant defense of regular
people against the malign influence of
economic royalists, but without the
overtones of nativism or racism. But we
don't, so it is more honest and accurate to
refer simply to these policies simply as
economic progressivism.

As for class warfare, it's here. The policies
of the past three decades, whether on taxes,
de-regulation, outsourcing, the assault on
unions, or the deliberate weakening of social
insurance, have been top-down class
warfare. It's just charming that when
progressives begin to show some spine and
start fighting back, the Right screams "class
warfare!" They should know.

populism, excuse me, his economic
progressivism, is that it took him until nearly
the year of his re-election to practice it
resolutely. More, please.

[dtexdem]

1. Is it just throwing a few bones to the progressive base, ...

or does it represent an acknowledgement that "compromise" with Wall Street and with Republicans is impossible? I'd like to think the latter, but the first three years of Obama's administration has made me a bit too cynical to do so. Hey, I'd love to be proved wrong.

[Divine Discontent]

2. right, its hard to be hopeful about it, but we'll take it!

[KoKo]

3. We all are hoping for "More Populism, Please!" Let's hope this is a "turn around."

Not sure with Jacob Lew...but, I suppose we can still hope...

[No Elephants]

5. Hope? I remember the last time I had hope around the election of a Presidential candidate.

[ooglymoogly]

4. Fool me once...etc nt

[No Elephants]

6. Someone actually entitled an article "Obama's Populism?"

"As for class warfare, it's here. The policies
of the past three decades, whether on taxes,
de-regulation, outsourcing, the assault on
unions, or the deliberate weakening of social
insurance, have been top-down class
warfare. "

Any article that implies that class warfare began three decades ago needs help.

Despite all the reverence for the Framers, you can see class warfare shouting out at you from the U.S. Constitution, as originally written (before it was amended to include the Bill of Rights).

However, by setting the date at around 1982, the author puts us in the era when control of the Democratic Party was changing from the New Deal and Fair Deal types to the DLC types.

The latter were always part of the Democratic Party, or at least since Lincoln was assassinated.

And ya know what Harry Truman said about Democrats like that.