Now that Russ Feingold is on his way out, I think it's safe to call Bernie Sanders the country's best Senator. Huffington Post recently ran a piece by him that begins: "The billionaires are on the war path."
And it only gets better from there. Please read the whole thing.
Toward the end of the piece he poses this question:
We know what the billionaires and their Republicans supporters want. They've been upfront about that. But what about the Democrats? Will President Obama continue to reach out and "compromise" with people who have made it abundantly clear that the only agreement they want is unconditional surrender? Or, will he utilize the powerful skills that we saw during his 2008 campaign for the White House and bring working families, young people, the elderly and the poor together to fight against these savage attacks on their well-being?
Like Robert Kuttner, I don't expect President Obama to become Harry Truman. But is it unrealistic to hope that he at least uses the bully pulpit to defend his positions and to marginalize those who disagree with him? Doesn't his simple political survival instinct have to kick in at some point?
Reading Krugman this morning -- he has an important piece about the nihilistic fanaticism of the GOP -- I wondered, for the thousandth time, why Obama hasn't even tried to make the Republicans pay for blocking unemployment benefits? At best, public opinion forces the GOP to fold. At worst, the public sees the GOP for what they are. Why hasn't he given a prime time address on the economy in which in both blasts the GOP for holding middle class tax cuts hostage to defend the rich and for blocking unemployment benefits?
He doesn't have long to decide. I still see comments here saying Obama "is only halfway" through his term. But the county can't afford to be patient. Nor can he. Urgency is needed. Now. Today.