...it occurred to me today that he is indeed slightly better than Romney. I'd support the Green Party if we had a system that broke up the two party duopoly, but since we don't, I'm stuck with what we have. Many people like me are staying home, but I just can't do it. At first, I was really deflated about going back in the booth for the President. Admittedly, I probably projected way too much onto him, things that he wouldn't do or couldn't do, and so disappointment was just inevitable. Here's why:
-Drug law enforcement is racist. You can see it by visiting a prison and look at all the nonviolent drug offenders who are Black. The drug violence in Mexico is fueled by the sheer amount of drugs Americans and Canadians consume. If you legalize drugs, then you can force West African drug lords and their supply chain to compete directly with Monsanto or whoever, and it's pretty much clear who can deliver a cheaper product. Obama instead ramps up the war on drugs, sending more people into jail for decades. Political turmoil fueled by drug money will continue in Honduras, and the President will say nothing.
-The killing of American citizens without trial using drones and his expanded drone warfare. Libertarians went crazy over the NDAA, and so did the far left. I think it's a bit naive to think the government hasn't killed U.S. citizens before without a trial, but drone warfare itself is what I find shocking. Who knows if they get their targets? In the meantime, while they're chasing the ghosts of terrorists, drones kill innocent people indiscriminately. I know my countrymen care more about the latest football game than whether their country murders brown people, but you could simply focus on defending yourself on your own soil instead of creating more enemies.
-Obamacare is a gift to the insurance industry. Single payer is better, 'nuff said. Republicans are going to try and defund it or douse it in procedural tricks before long.
-This stupid Middle Class garbage. Honestly, do Americans really buy that crap? 5.2 percent of hourly paid workers makes minimum wage or less. Even people who make above minimum wage don't make much more, and most have to use food stamps and government programs to support them. Talk about lowered standards. Low participation in unionism, and the general public's utter ignorance about what unions do, is killing recovery. Plus, wage theft by employers who break labor and minimum wage laws is tied to the low level of private sector unionism. Organized labor catches employer abuses faster and gets money into the hands of people who earned it, instead of it being sucked up into a vacuum. Obama has labor on his side but when it comes to collective bargaining fights, he keeps his distance, waiting to see what happens.
-Student loans are a joke. I laughed when Clinton talked about the fact that you can now have student loans eat an acceptable part of of your monthly income, a lighter, kinder, gentler version of Chapter 13 since we can't discharge student loan debt in Chapter 7. There are people going to scuzzy schools that offer worthless degrees and charge 100k with government backed loans and then the kid has to work hard to pay off a 6 figure bill that he raised for nothing! Student loan debt is getting higher and higher and no jubilee or change in bankruptcy law is in sight. Obama doesn't talk about that. He offers mealy mouthed platitudes and no fixes. Public Universities should be cheap and federally subsidized if need be, and the loan program should be ended. No one is questioning the price inflation of high education or the need to recognize that college isn't right for everyone and some system of getting people into decent jobs out of high school is a more realistic goal. Besides, too many people with degrees makes the degree less valuable. If you've got the grades, you can go to public university and it'll be cheap. If you want to go to a private university, you take your own dollars, save up if you have to. The fly by night University of Uselessness will disappear as dollars get scarce and you get rid of the bubble by paying for it upfront. Sure, some people might not make it to college, but that's why high school should be revamped to give real world skills that are translatable to a job that doesn't require a college degree but pays decently. The military can turn an 18 year old into a logistics whiz.
To me, President Obama is the status quo candidate. I don't blame him for the fact that "Too Big to Fail" is now "Even Bigger Now so it Really Can't Fail" mainly because a lot of that happened when TARP started in 2008 before he took the reins and a lot of financial regulation is being gutted in the courts and through procedural tricks. Thank you Antonin Scalia's son. I have no idea why his DOJ is so timid, but to be honest a federal 50k a year prosecutor has to have a lot of guts and discipline to go against a well pampered multimillion dollar legal team which can stay in it for the long haul.
However, using anti trust laws that are already on the books to break up to big to fail, re-implement Glass Steagal (a modernized version of it), and start prosecuting a corrupt system would protect the economy moving forward and would stimulate an ailing economy teetering on a cliff. Anyone talking about that? Hunstman did, but definitely not Obama.
When I see those on this site get excited when a Republican endorses President Obama or picks him up in their store, we cheer. When Andrew Sullivan endorses the President, we say "Great!" I say "Blech." I don't want to celebrate him being center-right.
But then it hit me.
At least he's sympathetic to a Democratic Congress. He may not be a progressive's best friend, but at the very least you can work with him and there is some dialogue. There isn't much dialogue, but it's there. With Romney there is none. With the Right there is none, and I while I would love it if the Republicans could break the country out of its stupor and cut everything they depend on so that reality is pulled down over their eyes, I know it's just too cruel to do to people.
We need Democrats in Congress to talk about this issues and bring them front and center. Warren can take Glass Steagal, Pelosi can tackle drug laws. There's tons of stuff the Progressive bench could do, and it occurred to me that Obama is a lot better for that than the alternative.
So I guess I'll join you guys in the booth. Just not excited about it.