The Critique from the Left

Yves Smith presents the critique of President Obama’s term in office from the left:

Again and again, Obama has shown his true colors. It isn’t simply that Obama lied. Politicians lie. But there are norms for political lying. The depth and dependability of Obama’s misrepresentations constitute a difference in kind.

His pattern of grand promises producing at-best-in-name only and at worst outright bait and switch was well established by his 2008 campaign. Some close observers pointed out his past legerdemain, for instance, his misleading account of his years in New York, his record of fronting for finance and real estate interests in Chicago, his promise to bring a state-wide health care program to Illinois, which in the end was walked back to a mere study. And there were more decisive tells in 2008: the high level of Wall Street funding for his campaign, the inclusion of neoliberal “Chicago boys” in his economics team, his reversal on FISA after promising to filibuster it, which gave retroactive immunity to telecoms for aiding and abetting illegal wiretapping, and his whipping for TARP.

Obama didn’t make compromises necessary to lead effectively. He entered office with majorities in both houses and a country eager for a new direction. He has repudiated or retraded every pledge he made. He promised transformational leadership, and instead emulated Wall Street, devising complex programs that to sell average Americans short and reap his funders handsome rewards in the process. Rather than elevate his fellow citizens, Obama’s transactional focus and neoliberal philosophy have kicked the struggling middle class down the road greased by the right.

She goes on to state her case that the Democrats are actually worse than the Republicans at this point because more effective. My view is, perhaps, even more jaded than hers: I think that too many nominal progressives are just looking for jobs with some prospective progressive Democratic administration. They’ll throw any principle under the bus in a mad grab for a paycheck.

There are exceptions: Glenn Greenwald is just as critical of the Obama Administration’s detentions and human rights violations as he was of those of the Bush Administration. Principled progressive don’t have much of an alternative: either Obama or Romney will be elected in November.