Eric Alterman just published a massive essay in The Nation, entitled "Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now"
I don't recommend it.
First, it's damn hard to find a thesis in this extended disquisition. The article does a fine job of cataloguing the many ills that beset American democracy today (no wonder it's so long), but is far less clear about answering its own title question. In fact, not only does Alterman not answer the question substantively, he doesn't even - as far as I could see - provide a thesis statement identifying his argument.
As near as I can tell it is that the campaign finance system and the media in America are so polluted that no president could actually govern as a progressive. I already get that this country badly needs reform of those two sectors of our political system - I sure don't need any convincing there. But the next step is altogether missing. Elaboration of the argument as to why these malignancies necessarily preclude a progressive presidency was sorely missing from the piece.
Even so, I thought the thing was more or less worth reading for its thorough chronicling of what ails us today. Until I got tot the end, that is, when I badly wanted to hurl as I read the final substantive paragraph of the essay: "What's more, one hypothesis - one I'm tempted to share - for the Obama administration's willingness to compromise so extensively on the promises that candidate Obama made during the 2008 campaign would be that as president, he is playing for time. Obama is taking the best deal on the table today, but hopes and expects that once he is re-elected in 2012 - a pretty strong bet,
I'd say - he will build on the foundations laid during his first term to bring on the fundamental ‘change' that is not possible in today's environment. This would be consistent with FDR's strategy during his second term and makes a kind of sense when one considers the nature of the opposition he faces today and the likelihood that it will discredit itself following a takeover of one or both houses in 2010. For that strategy to make sense, however, 2013 will have to provide a more pregnant sense of progressive possibility than 2009 did, and that will take a great deal of work by the rest of us."
Do I really have this straight?
Alterman believes that by allowing the right to crawl back up off the mat it had leveled itself upon less than two years ago, by alienating progressives and moderate voters in droves... by failing to defend his policies from the worst sort of excoriation from insane troglodyte freaks, by giving the GOP control of one or both branches of Congress... that Obama is supposed to get reelected in 2012?
My god, are you using the word "bet" literally, man? Can I get some serious action against that proposition?
...Most importantly, though, what is wrong with Alterman's take on Obama is that he fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the American presidency.
...Strong and successful presidents (meaning those who get what they want - whether that happens to be good for the country or not) do not accept "the best deal on the table". They take out their carpentry tools and the build the goddam piece of furniture themselves. Strong and successful presidents do not get dictated to by the political environment. They reshape the environment into one that is conducive to their political aspirations.
In short, strong and successful presidents are the bat, not the ball.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/17More:
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