Obama and the Left

On The Huffington Post this weekend a column appeared by the actor Stephen Weber stating that liberals need to get on board with President Obama because really what are the other options. Sitting out the election and watching someone like Rick Perry win the Presidency.

Clearly this would not be an option liberals desire. On this point Weber is correct. However,that said, Obama should not get a free pass from those on the left. The difference between being defeated on promises made and pragmatically not working to even get them passed is significant. Obama has broken more promises and commitments to the left than he can count. His promise to stand with labor has been a non starter, his removal of the EPA's right to regulate smog, his back and forth on gay rights, his promises on Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, his failure to fight for the public option for the health care bill, his cave in on the budget last year and his even bigger cave this summer on the Debt Ceiling.

It is not so much that Obama keeps losing, or even that he keeps compromising it is that he never seems to want to fight. His desire to be seen as above it all seems almost pathological.

The Presidential election is a series of fifty battles and electorally Obama could be in big trouble. The left dreams of a new candidate, if not Hillary as she is no liberal but someone else with a set of principles and as important a desire to fight for them.

I have read recent articles claiming America is ripe and ready for an Independent ticket, a coalition if you will, whether this is true or not remains to be seen. The problem is as in most of these fights is Republicans are more disciplined in all things and their anger at Obama might not incline them to go for any kind of moderation ticket. Myself a ticket of Kerrey/Hagel even if they are both from Nebraska sounds wonderful but there are millions of reasons why this is not just unlikely but extremely remote as a possibility.