I simply had to blog this note from John Robert Behrman that was sent for distribution by Carl Whitmarsh, THE LIST KEEPER. Pass this around as we must be in gear now.
Critical reviews on the Obama administration are in:
Jim Fallows in the Atlantic Monthly is the most complete and fair:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/obama-explained/8874/
Naom Scheiber in The New Republic finds this Administration’s weak point in his portrait of perilous dealings by the Treasury Department and “Friends of Bill” with Wall Street:
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/100595/obama-escape-artist-excerpt
Still, this President has done better on all accounts than right-wing governments in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Israel that came to power alongside Dick Cheney and George W. Bush largely in order to support the Iraq War and, indeed, to create a new sort of religious war focusing on Muslims around the world and right here in Houston. On The War, …
I won’t state the obvious:
- Barack Obama hunted down killed Osama bin Ladin exactly the way he laid out in his campaign.
- He his inspired those seeking peace and prosperity in the Muslim world.
- And, his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has done the sort of heavy lifting it takes to … make it so.
Well, there, I stated it.
On the Constitution, …
This President has started — with little support from Democrats in Congress and, of course, none from Republicans on the Supreme Court — to dismantle a “deep state” and ineffective “security theater” in order to provide, in fact, better international security for traditional American interests and commerce.
On the Economy, …
We are, technically, out of the Great Recession but not, yet, in another “bubble”. Still, our economic, industrial, and financial institutions have been severely degraded by nearly a century of Great, World, and Cold War. Duh!
This President, Congress, Supreme Court, and Federal Reserve Bank, have not dealt definitively in one term with over thirty years of growing income inequality and widespread financial disorder. Neither did Franklin D. Roosevelt.
This President has done more than “Band-Aid” but not much more than morphine, field dressings, and tourniquets when it comes to full employment and financial stability.
So, we have to evacuate the patient to a well-equipped second term Level IV care facility where reconstructive surgery and serious rehabilitation needs to be done. Actually, we do that here in Houston. Now, we need to …
“Build Better Lives for All – Not Just a Privileged Few”
Economic inequality and financial disorder are institutional problems that cry out for an entire party and a mobilized electorate to deal with. Most of our party’s own bundlers, consultants, perpetual incumbents, and legislative camp-followers are utterly complicit in the mess we have.
That is why we need a new County Chair, …
And, we have one!
But, entrenched interests have neutered the Democratic Party at every echelon. They have turned it into a hiring hall for purveyors of professional and racial patronage.
So, the new Chair needs our help.
But, some on the “whine and cheese” left with something of an End Times view of what passes for “capitalism” or “democracy” today are mortified that this administration has not lived up to right-wing characterization of this President as a left-wing, “socialist” radical or “community organizer” or, … whatever.
Like the whiners, I, too, am against “cringing liberals” or “centrist” Democrats like Martin Frost, but I do not think that is the correct term to use for this President:
He is President of the United States, not the Democratic Senate or House Majority Leader and is supposed to work with the GOP to the extent they let him. That has not been very much, so as a candidate – not as President – I think Barack Obama is going to slaughter the GOP this fall for their gross Congressional intransigence and legislative folly, not least in Texas.
We have, and I want, a diverse majority party. And, that is not going to be one as conspicuous for posturing on a suite of 60’s-vintage, even 50’s-vintage, “social issues” or “identity politics” as the GOP is for their “white-homeowner” or “reactionary” posturing on a worn-out issue-set.
No. I do not think the GOP should be allowed to choose the ground or impose the terms we fight on. That is why as a statutory member of the SDEC I voted last November not to put a bunch of “litmus tests” on the Democratic Primary Ballot.
The GOP is setting out “red meat” bait on “God, Guns, and Gays” again. Yes, they are that bankrupt!
I do not think Democrats should take that smelly, old bait. In 2008, we supported what Barack Obama had to say on The Constitution, The War, and the Economy in a highly disciplined campaign.
I think we can look forward to another disciplined campaign …
Well organized, …
Moderate in tone, and …
Devastatingly effective at all levels.
Trust the people!
We will punish the GOP for its right-wing extremism without being distracted by the GOP from three issues that Barack Obama ran on in a disciplined 2008 campaign sweeping Harris County!
Ignore the smoke and chaff.
The GOP is in full retreat and trying to salvage their self-destructive primaries.
That is why I am still for Obama, just as I was four years ago.
Thanks to all of those as helped me serve for those years as the State Democratic Executive Committeeman for SD-13. And, good luck, to us all as we are “cracked and packed” into SD-13, SD-15, and SD-17.
Yeah, the GOP expects to divide and defeat Democrats. They are desperate.
D-Day is coming for them.
And, they know it!
John Robert BEHRMAN
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