Greenwald on Obama's governing style: "DLC, triangulating corporatism of the Clinton era"

[mcablue]

Excerpt (12-17-09):

"As I've written for quite some time, I've honestly never understood how anyone could think that Obama was going to bring about some sort of "new" political approach or governing method when, as Kilgore notes, what he practices -- politically and substantively -- is the Third Way, DLC, triangulating corporatism of the Clinton era, just re-packaged with some sleeker and more updated marketing. At its core, it seeks to use government power not to regulate, but to benefit and even merge with, large corporate interests, both for political power (those corporate interests, in return, then fund the Party and its campaigns) and for policy ends. It's devoted to empowering large corporations, letting them always get what they want from government, and extracting, at best, some very modest concessions in return. This is the same point

(...)

One finds this in far more than just economic policy, and it's about more than just letting corporations do what they want. It's about affirmatively harnessing government power in order to benefit and strengthen those corporate interests and even merging government and the private sector. In the intelligence and surveillance realms, for instance, the line between government agencies and private corporations barely exists. Military policy is carried out almost as much by private contractors as by our state's armed forces. Corporate executives and lobbyists can shuffle between the public and private sectors so seamlessly because the divisions have been so eroded. Our laws are written not by elected representatives but, literally, by the largest and richest corporations. At the level of the most concentrated power, large corporate interests and government actions are basically inseparable.

The health care bill is one of the most flagrant advancements of this corporatism yet, as it bizarrely forces millions of people to buy extremely inadequate products from the private health insurance industry -- regardless of whether they want it or, worse, whether they can afford it (even with some subsidies). In other words, it uses the power of government, the force of law, to give the greatest gift imaginable to this industry

Emphasis is mine. This is only a portion of a long piece exploring the divisions in the progressive movement, that you should read in its entirety here: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/12/18/corporatism/print.html

[Truth2Tell]

1. Greatest page for Greenwald. K&R nt

[jonnyblitz]

2. very interesting article. thanks for posting. nt

[Vidar]

3. K&R.

[Laelth]

4. k&r for the truth, however depressing. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[kenny blankenship]

5. Recommended - the whole thing must be read

We have elected walking, talking corporatism, masquerading as a grass roots movement led by a "community organizer". Yes, we COULD and did. The reversal of illusion and reality doesn't get sharper than this - Orwell couldn't do better.

[libertypirate]

6. AKA Holding pattern politics./nt

[Echo In Light]

7. K&R

[Truth2Tell]

8. "If one judges the bill purely from the narrow perspective of coverage,

a rational and reasonable (though by no means conclusive) case can be made in its favor. But if one finds this creeping corporatism to be a truly disturbing and nefarious trend, then the bill will seem far less benign."

Bam, the problem is the nefarious creeping corporatism.

[chill_wind]

9. Greenwald made a call yesterday that's very hard to argue

on the HCR as it stands: He said "it actually looks like the worst caricature of liberals: taking people's money against their will, saying it's for their own good --- and doing it without even the cover that FDR wisely insisted upon with social security, by having it withdrawn from paychecks. People don't miss the money as much when they never see it."

We are handing Republicans the all-time loaded weapon. Why?

[leftstreet]

10. K&R

[kctim]

11. It is what happens

when the people allow their govt the power to force people against their will. Thinking its ok for this but for that does not work.
It is only going to get worse.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. But, unlike the Clinton years, the left is rebelling...finally.

The "not as bad" meme is falling on deaf ears this time. And, the charm of a good looking, articulate, politician making pretty speeches, isn't charming anybody but the cult of personality true believers.

[Dragonfli]

13. It is such a sham, Dean and the Democratic wing of the Democrat party worked tirelessly

in the streets, on the phones, on the blogs and with their wallets to get this majority for the party.

As soon as the elections were over, they discarded Dean and all the rest of us political ground troops that brought them out of the wilderness.

Then within days the "third way" corporate hacks of the party took credit for everything and replaced the progressive change agenda with a corporate friendly sell out.

It was the populist rhetoric and the work of those of us that believe in the "written" platform of the party that got all those votes out and supported the rise to power of what I can only call a bait and switch con job on the majority that voted for change.

Our own enemies conned us into doing the work of convincing people to vote for a very Republican-like corporate agenda that was lurking in the darkest most corrupt shadows of our party. We (Dean included) are the ones who sold the populist con job that they never could have as they do not believe in traditional Democratic values that they actually appear to stand against.

They conned us first to sell what we believe to people that expected it and were duped. If they ran on what they are doing (or not doing in the case of social and legal justice) they never would have gotten past the primaries.

We have been used by a con man that lied habitually on the campaign trail and betrayed us for an agenda written by corporations.

People like Dean were pushed out as soon as they no longer needed him or us to get elected, and People like Rahm Emanuel were placed into positions of power so the triangulation and final betrayals could begin.

The DLC doesn't even have to win the elections (they can't because they are basically republicans), they have us to do that for them. After all, where are we gonna go? They feel they own us to use and abuse at will. The only way to stop this belief is to stop doing exactly as they expect and stop being dependable doormats that will be there on election day no matter how much they betray us.

It is time to end the charade where they ride the coattails of our progressive ideas only to govern like republicans.
It is time to stop being the beard that allows them to lurk in the shadows and pretend to believe in our platform.
It is time to run against them for a change and let them try to get elected on the corporate vision they truly wish to achieve.

It is time folks, the DLC must die within the party or we must oppose them from without.

[chimpymustgo]

25. +1. Good post.

[rudy23]

14. The DLC dinosaurs don't realize that you can't triangulate in 2010 with youtube and google around

Now, the public can put a politician's contrasting statements right next to each other to make them look like the duplicitous hypocrites that they are.

In Clinton's time, we only had our faulty memories to try and catch the inconsistencies. That's why triangulation worked in the early 90s.

[laughingliberal]

15. yeah, look for the end to net neutrality, coming to a theatre near you soon nt

[rudy23]

16. Exactly. This is how Rahm will get even with netroots.

Then what?

[FLAprogressive]

17. Pretty much!

[donheld]

18. k & R

[JCMach1]

19. Wrong, Obama is governing well to the right of Clinton for no good reason

at least Clinton had the excuse of the Republican congress.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[paulk]

21. at least Clinton didn't start with the triangulating

until after the Republicans had gained a majority in Congress...

[McCamy Taylor]

22. I think Obama wants to be another Bill. But I don't think he can pull it off.

You have to be true to yourself. Clinton was Clinton. He was authentic, even when he was wrong. Obama seems to be trying on different styles. His insincerity is becoming clear.

[divideetimpera]

23. Tea Partiers and DUers are natural allies

both oppose corporatism

[alarimer]

24. Bingo.

more warmed-over bullshit. The kind of thing that loses elections for the Democrats is to act like Republicans. People want real choices and REAL change. They do not want DINOS or Repub-lite. Democrats won this last time because the voters actually believed that Obama meant what he said. Or maybe they managed to tell themselves that he wasn't just another lying sack of shit politician. As it turned out, however, not so much. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME".

Among his many broken campaign promises are: the reimportation of drugs and opposition to health care mandates. Once he got in office and received his marching orders from Big Pharma, the game was over before it started. And we the voters are proven to be suckers once again. Shame on us for falling for his bullshit. Fucking politicians are all alike. I hate them all, Democrats, Republicans, Independent. NOT ONE OF THEM is worth voting for. Not a single solitary one. I am through. I am certainly through believing Democrats' lies.