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OBAMA CANNOT RISK FORFEITING THE CONFIDENCE OF HIS BASE
Treasury Sec Paulson continues to prop up Bush's denial of the reality of our collapsing economy by throwing money into the flames.
"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem." : Abraham Lincoln (1809 -1865) 16th US President
President elect Barack Obama cannot risk forfeiting the confidence of his progressive base, with too many centrist cabinet choices, or he will lose their respect and esteem and they will not forgive him.
Obama must understand that his mandate of change is from a center-left coalition of millions of Americans who are rightfully angry with the Washington establishment and politics as usual ~ so if he slides to the center-right with little if any dramatic change in the status quo ~ this coalition will eventually not support him or his agenda.
David Sirota captures this theme in his excellent article on Our Future Today entitled Ghettoization & The Difference Between Politics & Policy http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008114824/ghettoization-difference-between-politics-policy
Excerpts: " The reason endangered politicians of both parties start airing populist progressive themes around election time is because they know those themes are popular among rank-and-file voters (thus the definition of "populism") - they know, in other words, that this is a decidedly center-left country, and when they have to answer to that country come election day, they go left. But once these politicians get into office and are far away from all of us, the unwashed masses, the pressures of money and media - ie. the Establishment - unleashes incredible pressure for them to actually write the details of policy in a way that preserves a conservative status quo."
Enter the Obama administration.
" While there's not enough evidence to declare a full-on "trend" in the incoming Obama White House, it is notable that Obama's policy appointments (ie. Cabinet secretaries and White House policy advisers who actually craft policy) are almost all right-of-center, Establishment choices - and almost none are, as The Nation's Chris Hayes has said, movement progressives ... At the same time, many Obama appointments to exclusively political positions – that is, positions that are focused on selling policy, whatever that policy may be - are terrific movement progressives, people like Mike Lux (transition outreach to progressive orgs), Ellen Moran (communications director), Phil Schiliro (congressional liaison) and Patrick Gaspard (political director). In other words, the initial structure seems to resemble the principle in American politics of politicians publicly selling their policies in progressive terms, while having those policies be crafted with much more conservative ideology. "
Now this might work in a solid economy but it certainly won't work in the framework of a rapidly deteriorating economy and depression. Sirota finally warns ~ " Again, I'm not saying the administration is built yet, or that the initial staffing decisions delineate a full-fledged trend. But we should watch closely to see if a trend does, indeed, develop."
And watch closely we will ~ for far too much is at stake now not only for America but for the world.
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/11/25.html
Freelance Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK
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