The Empty Pulpit: The Obama Problem

[ProudDad]

Of course, politics is the art of the possible and leading is often about compromising. This we know. But there is a critical difference between compromising on strategies versus compromising and even abandoning basic progressive principles and narratives as Obama has done. The immediate result is that the administration compromised badly or was outright defeated. Obama has not become a clever compromiser but rather a recidivist capitulator. But the longer-term damage of the president failing to step into the pulpit of the presidency has been the failure to counter the Right’s reactionary narratives with progressive narratives. This resulted in a disastrous failure to mobilize the base in 2010 and offered no encouragement for independents to join with progressives. Not surprisingly half of the Democrats and the vast majority of youthful voters did not even show up at the polls in 2010. The House majority was lost and if it were not for the buffoonery of several Tea Party Senate candidates, the Senate would have been lost as well.

http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/the-empty-pulpit-the-obama-problem

Un-progressive narratives and their counter narratives in the article...

[msongs]

1. open-mic Obama woke up for a few minutes, now he is back to sleep lol nt

[WiffenPoof]

2. I've Always Felt That...

..the primary reason why we lost the House in 2110 was due to the President's Right of Center policies to include the carrying on of the Bush agenda.

-PLA

[polichick]

3. “It seems that President Obama’s heart and his conscience are missing in action.”

“The expectations were very high that, since he had made human rights an important part of his platform, he would speak out for D.C.,” said Philip Pannell, a former member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee and longtime advocate for statehood. “It seems that President Obama’s heart and his conscience are missing in action.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2011/04/15/AFb0T5qD_story.html

[KoKo]

4. An interesting read. K&R