Who, Indeed?

Who, indeed, is going to vote for Obama in 2012? It does appear he is pretty much uninterested in his base, with his spokesperson basically insulting them by saying they should be drug tested and all. There obviously is a great disconnect between what the White House thinks it has accomplished and what it is the base expected. It is entirely possible the base expected too much and also possible the White House has accomplished too little. None of this would probably be regarded as particularly important if there were jobs, and more jobs. There is unlikely much chance there will be jobs as long as we continue our nonsensical unregulated capitalistic ways, as the goal of corporate and business profit is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of many jobs, and even the jobs that might be created will be based on the lowest wages and benefits possible. The road to profit is paved with the exploitation of labor and the environment. It’s pretty simple really. It would be possible to pay more decent wages and hire more people but that would require reducing profits, and reduced profits would mean no more multi-million dollar salaries and benefits for CEO’s. Does anyone truly deserve several million dollars or more a year for doing anything? It’s absurd.

Obama has even greater problems that merely dissing the progressives. In a way he is often caught in situations in which it is impossible to please everyone and sometimes anyone. The Mosque in New York is a case in point. As President of the United States he has no choice but to insist they have religious freedom just like any other religion. He said so and should have just left it at that. But then he had to add that he wasn’t commenting on the wisdom of building it, merely their right to build it. This, I think, was unnecessary, even superfluous. He should have left well enough alone. However, as many of our free-ranging loonies still think he is a Muslim he must have felt he had to in some way disassociate himself. It’s not easy being President, especially when you are both black and white, but you should a avoid looking wishy-washy at all costs.
Another issue I cannot understand (as I have no access to the facts or what goes on in the administration) is the fuss over the appointment of Elizabeth Warren. She does seem clearly to be by far the best candidate, indeed, even a dream candidate, and she has enormous support from many important people and even the public. So why doesn’t Obama just appoint her? I have no idea but it certainly gives again the impression of wishy-washy. If he’s not going to appoint her why doesn’t he say so and offer some cogent reason for it? Similarly, if he doesn’t believe in Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, why doesn’t he do something about it, at least suspend it until further notice? It’s the same when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian issue; Obama could use his power and authority to demand the Israelis stop their blatant war crimes against the Palestinians, stop their slow genocide of their captives in Gaza, stop the illegal expansions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, insist the Israelis come clean about their nuclear arsenal, but he doesn’t, he gives in to the colonialist Netanyahu at the drop of a hat. He could have virtually ended the hostilities in Afghanistan but chose instead to make the situation worse for no comprehensible reason I can see. He seems to think he should get credit for what he has done but be excused from not doing the things he either promised or should be doing. This does not bode well for the future. He may survive but if so probably because the alternative will be so much worse it will be unthinkable.

I did not expect miracles when I voted for Obama, but I did expect a bit more leadership and backbone. He should have insisted on the public option. He should be standing up more for labor. He should be paying no attention to what Republicans want, because all they want is for him to fail, and they have made this crystal clear. He should be standing up for Main Street instead of Wall Street. It is not all Obama, of course, the spineless Democratic Congress has to share in the disgrace they have become. They have failed to act decisively on anything, caving in time and time again to Republican stalling and demands.

I am normally not in favor of tinkering with the Constitution or the Amendments. And usually if an idea is put forward by Republicans I reject it out of hand as they have established themselves as enemies of the people. But the question of birthright I think is far more complicated than it appears. First of all, it had nothing to do with immigration when it was established, but over the years it has become used in that context. But also when it was established there were not some 20 million or so illegal immigrants dropping babies at a very high rate. Now, if we had immigration under control, this would not be much of a problem, or even any problem, but under the present circumstances it seems to me to create a problem that should be dealt with. I would prefer something be done about illegal immigration rather than messing with the 14th Amendment, but here again, we have an apparently wishy-washy Congress who can’t seem to take any decisive action.