Dear Friends,
I owe the title of today's blog to a commentary by Myles Spicer that was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today (here). In the commentary he explains with great clarity why he no longer admires President Obama. You should read it.
As we all watch with horror the events that have unfolded and are unfolding in Japan, the list of reasons why I can no longer believe in President Obama continues to grow virtually daily. There are too many items to describe each in detail, but here is a list with a short summary.
In light of the nuclear disaster that is taking place in Japan, we need to recall that President Obama after accepting lots of money from the nuclear power industry, proposed $8 billion in subsidies to begin to build more nuclear power plants. In addition, today in his testimony in Congress, Secretary of Energy Chu continued to claim that the nuclear power plants in the United States are safe and so well planned that they can withstand any assault from nature. What arrogance!! How can we possibly think that we are smarter or more cautious than the Japanese especially when it comes to the dangers of nuclear disasters? It is time for President Obama to forget about the money and get on with the business of establishing a sane energy policy for the United States that doesn't rely on fossil fuels or nuclear reactions.
Governor Walker of Wisconsin held a fundraiser on Saturday in Washburn, Wisconsin last Saturday. I was in the area and joined the protest. Here is the report from the Duluth News Tribune. One of the many wonderful signs at the protest simply said "Where is Obama?" What a great question. As you saw from my last post, candidate Obama promised that if anybody tried to take away workers' rights to collective bargain, he would join them on the picket line. Well, not only has he not joined the picket lines, he has stayed above the fray while his base has been mobilized in a way unseen for many years. He is on the wrong side of history on this issue, and it is severely damaging our democracy. The anti-union movement is not just about getting rid of collective bargaining. It is about eliminating any group with money that has any chance of competing with the huge amounts of money being spent by corporations and billionaires like the Koch brothers.
There are many other states that are doing what Wisconsin did and even worse, and President Obama is watching from the sidelines. While there is reporting on the activities in some states there is virtually no reporting on what is happening in Michigan. The legislature is about to finalize a bill that would permit the Governor to appoint an emergency financial manager for local units of government and school boards who could abrogate contracts, including collective bargaining agreements, sell off assets, dissolve the unit of government, determine which laws should be enforced and essentially displace the elected officials. President Obama should argue vehemently against this assault on democracy, but not a word is spoken.
President Obama has also abandoned any pretense of supporting human rights. You may recall that Bradley Manning is the soldier accused of leaking documents to WikiLeaks. Private Manning has been subjected to forced nudity. Even the military has admitted that they force Private Manning to sleep nude. By any measure this treatment is a violation of Private Manning's human rights. Unfortunately, not only is President Obama condoning this violation of human rights, he is supporting it. Here is the report from The New York Times. To make matters even worse, Phillip Crowley, a State Department spokesman was forced to resign because he had the courage to call the treatment "ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid" which of course it is.
President Obama has also essentially abandoned his goal of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and has ordered the resumption of military tribunals. President Obama continues to violate human rights and argue that he has the authority to imprison people forever simply on the basis of his designation of that person as an enemy combatant, a term made up by President George W. Bush. Other than his statements as a candidate, I cannot see any practical difference between President Obama's actions with respect to these prisoners and those of President George W. Bush.
President Obama's reaction to the struggle for democracy and freedom in Middle East has ranged from lukewarm to hostile. He was slow to support the demonstrators in Egypt, he is now letting Gaddafi brutally murder the protesters in Libya by his inaction. He has condoned if not agreed to the influx of Saudi troops into Bahrain to violently quell the protests there. What a surprise!! Oil will trump United States core values every time. I guess that means that oil supplies are our one true core value. Once again the United States, lead by President Obama, is on the wrong side of history. His actions do not just violate our values, they make us less safe.
President Obama has also adopted the narrative that the United States is in a financial crisis. We certainly were in a financial crisis and government spending and other government actions help mitigate that crisis and get us on the road to recovery. Now we are being placed in a financial crisis by the Republicans who will shut off federal government aid to the states and other spending. The Republicans will use this manufactured financial crisis to destroy government and secure all the power for the very rich and the corporate interests. Instead of standing up for the principles on which the Democratic Party was founded, President Obama meekly accepts the Republican narrative and offers to cut heating fuel aid to the poor and elderly while agreeing to extend the tax cuts for the rich. Those are only two examples. He has lost the right to call himself a Democrat.
President Obama thinks he needs $1 billion for his re-election campaign. The only people with that much money are big corporations and billionaires, so he is adopting policies that will permit him to get money from them. He has abandoned any pretext of being an agent of change and hope and has therefor abandoned all of us that supported him because he professed to be an agent of change and hope.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
President Obama's broken promise to labor
Dear Friends,
After President Obama decided to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, one of my sons sent me an email saying that now I could say something nice about President Obama. Of course, he was right. President Obama did the right thing on that issue.
Unfortunately, President Obama continues to break the promises that candidate Obama made. Lawrence O'Donnell on his show tonight, "The Last Word" on MSNBC showed a clip of candidate Obama from 2007.
The candidate Obama clip starts at about 1:50 and ends at about 2:16. You should watch it. Candidate Obama promises to be walking the picket lines as President of the United States any time the workers' rights to organize are threatened. Well where is he? In the segment Mr. O'Donnell also shows a clip of the White House press briefing this morning. A reporter asked whether President Obama was planning on going to Wisconsin to support the workers. The press secretary said that he knew of no such plans and then went on to talk about belt tightening and living within your means. He did not say one word about the labor movement or the attempt to destroy unions.
The workers of America, the labor unions in this country that have done so much good, the unions and their members who supported candidate Obama and are a significant part of the reason why he was elected and all of the rest of us that supported candidate Obama deserve better.
The attempt to destroy collective bargaining in Wisconsin is only the tip of the ice berg. There is a unified nationwide drive to destroy unions in this country and the politicians that have been elected by the working people of this country and people that support them are staying silent. The Democratic Party and the person that is the titular head of the Democratic Party (in this case the President of the United States) are not speaking out and marching in the protests in Wisconsin and other places. If they are not leading us, who do we expect to do that?
Why would I as a liberal continue to support the Democratic Party when it won't wholeheartedly and passionately support the working people of this country and the unions that have provided all of us with minimum wage laws, safe working places, living wages, reasonable benefits, some semblance of job security, etc.? Does President Obama assume that we will continue to support him just because he is not as bad as Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann or Glen Beck?
I am afraid the time has come to admit that we need to focus on the long term. In the short term, the argument that anybody claiming to be a Democrat is better than the terrible Republican works, but is it what is best for this country? In the long term we need a party that will truly stand up for the traditional values that Democrats have embraced. The Democratic Party today is so far right of the mainstream Republican party of the 1960's that it has no right to call itself the Democratic Party.
Liberals need to begin a serious dialogue about how to either transform the Democratic Party so that it returns to its roots or how to start a new movement.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
After President Obama decided to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, one of my sons sent me an email saying that now I could say something nice about President Obama. Of course, he was right. President Obama did the right thing on that issue.
Unfortunately, President Obama continues to break the promises that candidate Obama made. Lawrence O'Donnell on his show tonight, "The Last Word" on MSNBC showed a clip of candidate Obama from 2007.
The candidate Obama clip starts at about 1:50 and ends at about 2:16. You should watch it. Candidate Obama promises to be walking the picket lines as President of the United States any time the workers' rights to organize are threatened. Well where is he? In the segment Mr. O'Donnell also shows a clip of the White House press briefing this morning. A reporter asked whether President Obama was planning on going to Wisconsin to support the workers. The press secretary said that he knew of no such plans and then went on to talk about belt tightening and living within your means. He did not say one word about the labor movement or the attempt to destroy unions.
The workers of America, the labor unions in this country that have done so much good, the unions and their members who supported candidate Obama and are a significant part of the reason why he was elected and all of the rest of us that supported candidate Obama deserve better.
The attempt to destroy collective bargaining in Wisconsin is only the tip of the ice berg. There is a unified nationwide drive to destroy unions in this country and the politicians that have been elected by the working people of this country and people that support them are staying silent. The Democratic Party and the person that is the titular head of the Democratic Party (in this case the President of the United States) are not speaking out and marching in the protests in Wisconsin and other places. If they are not leading us, who do we expect to do that?
Why would I as a liberal continue to support the Democratic Party when it won't wholeheartedly and passionately support the working people of this country and the unions that have provided all of us with minimum wage laws, safe working places, living wages, reasonable benefits, some semblance of job security, etc.? Does President Obama assume that we will continue to support him just because he is not as bad as Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann or Glen Beck?
I am afraid the time has come to admit that we need to focus on the long term. In the short term, the argument that anybody claiming to be a Democrat is better than the terrible Republican works, but is it what is best for this country? In the long term we need a party that will truly stand up for the traditional values that Democrats have embraced. The Democratic Party today is so far right of the mainstream Republican party of the 1960's that it has no right to call itself the Democratic Party.
Liberals need to begin a serious dialogue about how to either transform the Democratic Party so that it returns to its roots or how to start a new movement.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Saturday, February 19, 2011
President Obama and Unions
Dear Friends,
Just after President Obama's State of the Union address, Rachel Maddow ran a piece on how the political center in this country has moved dramatically to the right. Here is a link to that portion of her show.
As a result of that segment and the recent attempts by Republicans to destroy what is left of the labor movement in this country, I looked around for more information about President Eisenhower and his views on unions. Thanks to Peter Friedman (here) I found a speech that President Eisenhower made to the AFL-CIO in December, 1955. You should read it all but here are a couple of paragraphs.
The Republicans today are out to destroy what little remains of the labor movement in this country. In the private sector today only about 7% of workers are represented by a union while about 37% of public employees are represented by a union. In Wisconsin today, public employees are about to lose their right to collective bargaining. If the Republicans are successful in Wisconsin, they will move quickly to other states and the labor movement in this country will be dead. That is bad for all workers. That is bad for our economy. That is bad for our democracy. If public employee unions are destroyed, there will be no countervailing force to the unlimited funds that corporations can spend to buy elections.
The website of the Democratic Party starts out with the following paragraph:
President Obama has made a few statements in tepid support of the Wisconsin protesters. That is not enough. President Obama needs to fight for the labor movement in this country. President Obama should be in Madison, Wisconsin today speaking out about the need for unions and collective bargaining.
Unions have done great things for this country and for all workers. We have unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, 40 hour work week, child labor laws, workplace safety laws, and many other things that all employees take for granted today because of unions and the labor movement. We need to fight to preserve the labor movement. It is important to all of us.
Please contact President Obama (here) and tell him to be a Democrat and stand up for the working people of this country.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
Just after President Obama's State of the Union address, Rachel Maddow ran a piece on how the political center in this country has moved dramatically to the right. Here is a link to that portion of her show.
As a result of that segment and the recent attempts by Republicans to destroy what is left of the labor movement in this country, I looked around for more information about President Eisenhower and his views on unions. Thanks to Peter Friedman (here) I found a speech that President Eisenhower made to the AFL-CIO in December, 1955. You should read it all but here are a couple of paragraphs.
You of organized labor and those who have gone before you in the union movement have helped make a unique contribution to the general welfare of the Republic–the development of the American philosophy of labor. This philosophy, if adopted globally, could bring about a world, prosperous, at peace, sharing the fruits of the earth with justice to all men. It would raise to freedom and prosperity hundreds of millions of men and women-and their children-who toil in slavery behind the Curtain. One principle of this philosophy is: the ultimate values of mankind are spiritual; these values include liberty, human dignity, opportunity and equal rights and justice...
The second principle of this American labor philosophy is this: the economic interest of employer and employee is a mutual prosperity. Their economic future is inseparable. Together they must advance in mutual respect, in mutual understanding, toward mutual prosperity. Of course, there will be contest over the sharing of the benefits of production; and so we have the right to strike and to argue all night, when necessary, in collective bargaining sessions. But in a deeper sense, this surface struggle is subordinate to the overwhelming common interest in greater production and a better life for all to share...
The third principle is this: labor relations will be managed best when worked out in honest negotiation between employers and unions, without Government’s unwarranted interference.In the fifty-five years since President Eisenhower made that speech to the AFL-CIO, union membership and the influence of unions on our politics have been in steady decline. Not coincidentally, over essentially the same period of time the wages of the middle class have remained at best stagnant on a constant dollar basis while the rich have become incredibly richer and the number of poor has grown dramatically.
This principle requires maturity in the private handling of labor matters within a framework of law, for the protection of the public interest and the rights of both labor and management. The splendid record of labor peace and unparalleled prosperity during the last 3 years demonstrates our industrial maturity.
The Republicans today are out to destroy what little remains of the labor movement in this country. In the private sector today only about 7% of workers are represented by a union while about 37% of public employees are represented by a union. In Wisconsin today, public employees are about to lose their right to collective bargaining. If the Republicans are successful in Wisconsin, they will move quickly to other states and the labor movement in this country will be dead. That is bad for all workers. That is bad for our economy. That is bad for our democracy. If public employee unions are destroyed, there will be no countervailing force to the unlimited funds that corporations can spend to buy elections.
The website of the Democratic Party starts out with the following paragraph:
For more than 200 years, Democrats have represented the interests of working families, fighting for equal opportunities and justice for all Americans.So how can it be that President Obama who is nominally the head of the Democratic Party can be so far to the right of President Eisenhower, a Republican President, who was considered a conservative 55 years ago?
President Obama has made a few statements in tepid support of the Wisconsin protesters. That is not enough. President Obama needs to fight for the labor movement in this country. President Obama should be in Madison, Wisconsin today speaking out about the need for unions and collective bargaining.
Unions have done great things for this country and for all workers. We have unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, 40 hour work week, child labor laws, workplace safety laws, and many other things that all employees take for granted today because of unions and the labor movement. We need to fight to preserve the labor movement. It is important to all of us.
Please contact President Obama (here) and tell him to be a Democrat and stand up for the working people of this country.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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