- As seen in this Healthcare "reform" , the problem for Progressives is that President Obama and the Democratic Caucus holds the Progressives in contempt -- even Nancy Pelosi laughed and said we had no where to go.
That is why they screwed us -- and the country -- in order to pander to
to Joe Lieberman and the Blue Dogs.
- This , after all, is merely the latest in a LONG CHAIN of abuses:
a) Democrats let George Bush STEAL $3 Trillion out of Medicare and give it
to the Rich as a tax cut in 2001. NO "60 vote majority to overcome a filibuster" was heard about THAT. As I recall Max Baucus, Ben Nelson and other Blue Dogs even voted YEA.
b) Democrats voted to let George Bush murder 4500+ US citizens --and waste $2 Trillion -- grabbing Iraq's oil for Exxon and Chevron because it was sold to the Israel Lobby billionaires like Haim Saban as Good for Israel. Anyone remember Joe Lieberman inviting Bibi to address the Congress in summer of 2002 to tell us we needed to seize Saddam and his nukes?
Anybody recall Lieberman talking about "fiscal discipline then? Or Democratic Senators threatening Bush with a filibuster? Anyone recall the Caucus supporting Bob Graham and Nancy Pelosi when they said the intelligence did not provide a case for war? Or even bothering to review the intelligence as was later done by the Iraq Committee?
c) Meanwhile, Senator Schumer, Senator Dodd and Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee and Banking Committee did not let out a peep while Wall Street screwed us and bought the economy close to collapse.
This Great Recession , 17 million unemployed, and the Middle Class's loss of life savings would not have occurred if Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, and Robert Rubin had not conspired with Republican Phil Gramm to destroy banking and financial regulations that had protected us since the Great Depression.
No one talked about filibusters or "fiscal discipline" or the need for 60 votes when that $24 Trillion Financial Bailout of Goldman Sachs and Rubin's Citigroup was sliding through the Democratic Congress in 2008.
- You don't stop abuse by being a bitch. The Progressives need to cause some pain to change the Democratic Caucus's calculations.
We can't hit Joe Lieberman but we can damm well hurt the billionaire financiers of the Caucus-- by turning their $Billion dollar investment (on which $Trillions of wealth depend) into a pile of ashes. To suggest that there's a price for letting Joe run things.
The money boys have great power and great wealth -- which to a strategist means they have a LOT to lose. The common citizen --not so much. Not any more.
- Any Progressive worthy of the name should immediately change their registration from Democratic to Independent. Let a million of the Party's strongest activists do that and see if it gets the WHite House's attention.
If the Plutocracy has not already rigged your local primary and there is someone you want to support then you can always change back to vote at the last minute.
And you can donate money and work in a campaign regardless of registration.
- The Republicans must be exterminated and we don't want to vote for them in November. But WHO we will vote for --and whether we will vote -- should now become a matter of great uncertainty to Democratic pollsters over the next nine months.
We should want Rahm Emmanuel and the wealthy financiers of the DCCC, DSCC, and DNC chewing their fingers off by June. We can decide in the voting booth next November if they have made sufficient amends between now and then.
- Most of all, we need to follow Jane Hamsher's advice and construct independent sources of funding, information, and action.
When the Center for American Progress undermined political activism by telling us in July 21 to not worry -- that Obama said he would fix things in Conference and that a Strong Public Option is one of his bottom line demands -- then we know that we need to start listening to Jane Hamsher and Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone. See
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/...
Don Williams