Also, they’re not scared. They can still kill his candidacy, and if they can’t, there are plenty of ways to blunt his power. Further, as we saw after Ross Perot got 19% of the vote in 1992, they can throw up institutional hurdles making it impossible for progressive candidates to have a shot at these offices in the future.
Most of all, though, it’s hard for me to get excited about this after watching Obama rule as a conservative when he sold us ‘hope and change’.
One thing I will say about Obama is that he did try. Years ago, somebody put together a list of all his campaign promises and the only one he didn’t do anything about was closing Guantanamo Bay. Every other campaign promise said “blocked by Republicans” next to it. People forget that the rest of the government was controlled by a Republican party who said that even in the short time they didn’t have majority control that they’d rather burn the government to the ground than let a black man pass any laws. The Democrats capitulating at every like they always do didn’t help, of course, but it wasn’t like he didn’t try to do what he said he was going to.
All the other stuff he did, though? Yeah, that’s on him. There was plenty of “business as usual” during his terms when it came to things like drone strikes on civilians and deportation camps.
Agreed.
Also, they’re not scared. They can still kill his candidacy, and if they can’t, there are plenty of ways to blunt his power. Further, as we saw after Ross Perot got 19% of the vote in 1992, they can throw up institutional hurdles making it impossible for progressive candidates to have a shot at these offices in the future.
Most of all, though, it’s hard for me to get excited about this after watching Obama rule as a conservative when he sold us ‘hope and change’.
One thing I will say about Obama is that he did try. Years ago, somebody put together a list of all his campaign promises and the only one he didn’t do anything about was closing Guantanamo Bay. Every other campaign promise said “blocked by Republicans” next to it. People forget that the rest of the government was controlled by a Republican party who said that even in the short time they didn’t have majority control that they’d rather burn the government to the ground than let a black man pass any laws. The Democrats capitulating at every like they always do didn’t help, of course, but it wasn’t like he didn’t try to do what he said he was going to.
All the other stuff he did, though? Yeah, that’s on him. There was plenty of “business as usual” during his terms when it came to things like drone strikes on civilians and deportation camps.