The Mendacity of Nope

I wasn't going to grouse about politics here, but as we continue to lurch along in the economic doldrums, I wonder if it's occurred to Democrats that being Republican Lite doesn't serve them particularly well (or the rest of the country, for that matter, the ~90% of the country left behind by Republican economic policies). When Obama was voted in, there was a strong mandate for change -- hell, he ran on it ("Change We Can Believe In") and on hope over fear, all of that stuff. But his term to date has really been a continuation of the Bush/Cheney Years in nearly all ways (I mean, even his demonized healthcare reform was really just a repackaged version of Mitt Romney's "Romneycare" that would have made Eisenhower proud -- that's exactly how conservative and retro it is -- a 1950s solution to a 21st century problem). Anyway, despite bucking the mandate he had and pursuing a supposedly "bipartisan" approach to the GOP (which really looked like a peace-through-appeasement tactic to me), Obama was rewarded with nonstop opposition from a unified and deeply ideological GOP. I mean, the GOP were staggered in the wake of Obama's election -- they had nothing. And they still have nothing to offer (beyond their ongoing mantras: lower taxes, more money to the top 1%, more money to the military and the police, One Nation Under God[tm], and immigrant-bashing). But the weak-kneed approach of Obama and the Democrats cost them the House -- their conciliatory efforts got them absolutely nothing, and their fealty to Wall Street over Main Street cost an economic recovery -- they listened to the wrong voices and refused to run with the mandate that they had, refused to implement a serious stimulus plan, and the economy continues to lurch and founder. This was the gift that the GOP had hoped for, and they've run with it. They're still peddling the same snake oil they always do, but the fault really lies with the Democrats, for not running with the ball when they had it. Fake Democrats don't tend to win in the long run.

Of course, now we have a fake Democrat as Mayor over here in Chicago. Rahm Emanuel is a political pit bull, we're fond of hearing, but he has always been a Fake Democrat of the first order. The now-defunct Democratic Leadership Council (whose sole accomplishment was turning the majority of Democrats into Republican Lite), they loved Emanuel. And Chicago is a genuinely Democratic city -- true blue -- not the pale blue weak tea that Fake Democrats love to peddle. And that's what it's going to be -- Emanuel will try to bust up what unions he can, will probably privatize more of the city if he gets the chance, will kiss corporate ass more assiduously than ever, and so on. That's how Fake Democrats do things. Now, Emanuel has one luxury Obama doesn't, and that's far more job security -- the GOP in Illinois has no chance of taking Chicago from Emanuel. The political calculus is turned on its head, here -- Republicans pretend to be Democrats in Illinois in order to survive (excepting the collar counties, where they let their freak fascist flags fly).

Anyway, it's frustrating. It makes me think that the whole political system is just a puppet show put on for the distraction of the masses, simply because the route the Democrats should be taking is so clear, but they never, ever do it, and, instead, tack to the Right, which qualifies as the "Left" to the Republicans, who are simply out in the reactionary wilderness, far, far to the Right these days. Seriously, if you count yourself as a moderate or a centrist (whatever that honestly means in American political discourse -- a topic for another time), that would classify you as a leftist to today's Republicans. That's how far in the ideological weeds they are. Today's Democrats are more like 80s Republicans, and it's the sad truth. Though they are labeled as "liberals" by the hidebound GOP, there is nothing actually liberal about most of them -- there is still a tiny minority of actually liberal Democrats, but they are as much of an endangered species as moderate Republicans (who appear to be extinct).

Where does all of this go? America's problems require new thinking and progressive ideas -- supply-side economic thinking is bankrupt (honestly, the data bears this out -- it has resolutely failed to deliver what it pretended to promise to deliver), our country is in an economic tailspin that just grinds on, and our future as a nation is being mortgaged for short-term political gains by parties who are completely compromised by the actual powers-that-be running things.

Obama could have been another FDR or an LBJ when he got voted in -- he had it right there in his hands; instead, he has opted for being Herbert Hoover. *golf applause* The frustrating thing is that generations of Americans are going to be paying for that political cowardice and lack of vision.