After finally finishing "The Obamas" and reading Chait's piece on PBO "trying to sell out the left"

[boxman15]

I'm convinced the whole debt ceiling debacle and his failings after moving to the right following 2010 is what pushed Obama back to the left.

In The Obamas by NYT reporter Jodi Kantor, she recalled a late June 2011 event that would "haunt Obama for the rest of the summer."

Obama was hosting a dinner with some of his top donors in Philadelphia. During a Q&A session, the recurring theme coming from the Democratic donors was for Obama to be more forceful, to defend what he believes in and ran on, and to stand up to Republican obstructionism. Obama told the donors that he was forced to govern from the middle due to the newly divided government. At the end of the session, he allowed time for one more question. Judee von Seldeneck, a top donor, said this:

"When you ran for president, you awakened something in this country I haven't seen since President Kennedy. Why don't you provide the leadership we all expected from you and desperately need?"

The donors applauded. Obama, irritated, gave a rather weak, generic "I'm a lot grayer and wiser now" type response, but the response stuck with him throughout the summer and the debt ceiling debate. Obama was more frustrated than ever that he couldn't do much, even with the many concessions he was giving Republicans as he tried to govern from the center. "I wish I could do more," Obama told a top aide.

I think after the debt ceiling debacle, when Obama attempted to give up so much and even threatened the future of liberalism in the country according to Jonathan Chait (a little hyperbolic, imo) in an attempt to get something, anything, done, Obama realized that there is no reasoning with the modern Republican Party. From what I've seen, Obama has taken what von Seldeneck said to heart. He has moved back to the left (while still being the pragmatist he always has been) and has made protecting the middle class and reclaiming the American Dream the central focus of his presidency and campaign. It also helped that Occupy Wall Street helped to shift the narrative away from debt and back to jobs.

I truly believe Obama has finally learned that the Republican Party will never agree to work with him on anything, so he's stopped trying to appease them and has instead fought for his brand of pragmatic liberalism, and I believe this will carry into his second term. Thoughts?

Edited to clarify

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Obama pushed through three Bush "free" trade deals in November

Which are projected to destroy about 200,000 American jobs. But make big bucks for the 1%.

While I hope that your hypothesis is correct, I'm not sure Obama's action is consistent with an epiphany such as you describe.

[SidDithers]

3. And he cut Social Security by 22% too!!...nt

Sid

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Rep. Conyers: "Obama Demanded Social Security Cuts--Not GOP"

Rep. Conyers: Obama Demanded Social Security Cuts--Not GOP

Thanks for playing.

[ProSense]

8. It's

"Thanks for playing."

...not a game: http://election.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=443902

[MannyGoldstein]

12. Correct

[Dragonfli]

16. Actually it is for some, those that find it all so amusing from Canada

Their own politics must be far less entertaining, especially since when one's safety net is secure you can laugh from the sidelines at attacks on the safety net of your neighbors.

No skin - No risk - just laughs.

I met one like that once so I know they exist.

[SidDithers]

25. ...

Sid

[Dragonfli]

32. I am glad to amuse you with the systematic disbanding of our safety net

I would wish the same on your country and perhaps find such joy in it as you do with our problems.

But... I just can't, I wish them well instead, not all of us find humor in other's misfortune.

[SidDithers]

11. 22%. That's what you told all of us...

How very wrong you were.

Sid

[MannyGoldstein]

13. What, exactly, did I say?

(This is going to be interesting...)

[SidDithers]

17. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=747031&mesg_id=747038

Sid

[MannyGoldstein]

18. I said that he's pushing for a 22% cut

not that he's done it.

I await your apology.

[SidDithers]

19. Except he was never pushing for a 22% cut in Social Security...

that was all in your imagination.

Sid

[dionysus]

21. keep trying Manny, you'll get there....

[woo me with science]

6. He also fought hard for insulting bank settlements,

continued fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for warrantless GPS surveillance of Americans, signed NDAA, claimed the right to assassinate Americans without trial, remained silent in the face of brutal attacks on peaceful protesters, signed the ACTA assault on internet freedom and attempted to hide it from the American press, moved forward on an Internet ID, and signed legislation that will proliferate drones in American airspace and bring military drones from Iraq and Afghanistan to the US for domestic use.

That's quite a list since April. No, I would say the evidence for an epiphany of liberalism is slight to nonexistent.

[Vattel]

35. It's a matter of degree, of course, but

there is some evidence of leftward drift. He has stopped out-doing the Republicans on border security, he is pushing against the Pentagon on the rate of withdrawal from Afghanistan, he proposed a military budget that is actually smaller than the previous year's, he got some pretty good fuel efficiency standards out of the auto industry, he hasn't clubbed a baby seal in weeks . . .

[immoderate]

2. Don't be fooled. That is Candidate Obama. He doesn't govern. President Obama does.

President Obama is in no way connected to what Candidate Obama says on the campaign trail.

--imm

[arthritisR_US]

22. That is a very cynical view that I cannot adopt,

sorry.

[immoderate]

27. I wish I could feel that way.

Maybe he will get better.

--imm

[arthritisR_US]

29. My hope is that he gets workable majorities

in both houses, come November. If that happens, the cynicism I fight will either be laid to rest or take flight with a vengeance, depending on what he does. I certainly understand where you are coming from

[immoderate]

30. Good! I will admit that I haven't got him figured out.

Chessmaster? Feet of clay? Over his head? Why does he never tackle wealth distribution? What turned him into a drug warrior?

I don't see an alternative, but I am not enthusiastic. I don't have that faith.

Maybe as you say, he will be inspired with working majorities. I sure don't need Republicans anywhere.

--imm

[arthritisR_US]

31. I have to say, there is not one thing you have said that I can disagree with. I have

always like President Obama, then and now. I think the GOP are finally being exposed for what they truly are (they haven't changed a wit, but the collective blinders have finally come off) and so, I hope they lose in landslide fashion. If such occurs I expect, and will be looking for redress for the very issues you have cited

[immoderate]

33. To the future and better times...

--imm

[DJ13]

4. I hope you are right, but

.... being as its election time we wont know for sure until 2013 if he learned his lesson and really intends to stay on the left, or if its just another round of campaigning and he intends on moving back to the right once he is reelected.

[boxman15]

7. The thing that makes me think he has legitimately moved left

is that staying in the center would probably be safer for him politically. Clinton dealt with a midterm shellacking in 1994 and moved to the center as Obama did in 2010. The difference is that Clinton stayed there and ran as a centrist reformer who declared the end of big government.

Obama has since moved back to the left and has promoted and defended an activist and liberal government that can help the needy and protect the middle class. He has more vigorously defended his positions and policies (the administration's defense of health care reform has been stronger than ever lately).

His 2012 State of the Union and speech in Osawatomie, Kansas in 2011 were strong defenses of a liberal government, for example. We'll see, though.

Liberal or centrist, Obama is certainly better than the Republican opposition, we can all agree on that.

[DJ13]

9. staying in the center would probably be safer for him politically

If the GOP had a rational candidate for November that would be wise, but this time Obama needs to try and prevent his base from either staying home or going third party.

The moderates in the center really have no choice but to vote for the only rational candidate running, so they arent nearly as important as a normal election.



The above is a modified version of the "liberals have no where else to go" thinking that moderates have foisted on the base when they dare to question the direction Obama has been going the last 3 years, I just thought they might enjoy seeing how that feels for a change.

[JDPriestly]

26. I agree with DJ13.

Obama's problem in 2010 was that his base stayed home while Republicans voted.

He is pretending to move to the center because he knows he will lose if we old-fashioned Democrats do not get out and vote. He will probably continue to double-cross us once he is elected. But Romney, Jeb Bush or Santorum would be much worse than Obama, so we will vote for (and probably work for) Obama.

[Enrique]

10. he's pushing corporate tax cuts now n/t

[boxman15]

14. From Think Progress:

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/02/22/429997/5-facts-corporate-tax-obama/

– The administration is proposing a top corporate income tax rate of 28 percent, lowered from its current 35 percent.
– The top tax rate for domestic manufacturers would be 25 percent.
– The plan would implement a minimum tax on overseas profits, as President Obama proposed in his most recent State of the Union address. The minimum tax would limit the ability of corporations to exploit low-tax havens like the Cayman Islands. The U.S. currently loses more to corporate profit shifting than it spends on several federal agencies.
– The plan would pay for the rate reduction by eliminating credits, loopholes, and deductions, including those for the oil and gas industries. Obama’s budget already proposed eliminating 12 tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal companies, saving $41 billion over 10 years.
– The plan would raise $200-$300 billion, depending on which baseline is used, as it would pay for the extension of a host of tax credits — such as the R&D tax credit — that are usually extended without pay-fors. As the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein explained, “their definition of revenue neutral is closer to what the corporate tax code actually says, but it’s about $200 billion above the Joint Tax Committee’s baseline.”

That seems sensible to me. It's revenue neutral. It's a simplified tax code, that's all. It could actually raise revenue.

[SpartanDem]

15. He's pushing for a simplfied code with a lower marginal rate

and fewer exemptions. If it's revenue netural it's not a tax cut, but you knew that already.

[Poll_Blind]

20. I want to share with you a quote from Dr. Francis Kendall:

“Every system is exquisitely designed to produce the results it gets. To change the results you have to change the system.”

PB

[WillyT]

24. Yes... Did You Happen To Catch THIS ???

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002438711

[WillyT]

23. We Can Only Hope... For The Change...

And we shall see... one way or the other.

[Selatius]

28. Obama is only as good as the Congress people give him.

If Obama had a liberal Congress that FDR had in 1932 and 1934 and 1936 at the start of Obama's presidency, he probably could've gotten a health insurance reform bill through Congress with a Public Option intact, for instance.

[girl gone mad]

34. Check out the JOBS Act that he's now pushing.

It's extremist right wing legislation which will enable Wall Street to loot and scam with impunity.

[Dragonfli]

36. Generally as a preference he appears to favor Chamber of Commerce

Or Heritage Foundation initiatives.

He favors the types of legislation that were popular with the Republican Party in the nineties, I think because he sees it as centrist middle ground next to the modern Republican initiatives.

If I wanted a nineties Republican I would have voted for one in the nineties.
I thought we were electing a Democrat and boy was I ever wrong.