Comments on: Muting Our Criticism of Obama: If We Don’t Speak Out Who Will? http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/2009/12/09/muting-our-criticism-of-obama-if-we-don%e2%80%99t-speak-out-who-will/ Just another The Chelsea Green Weblogs weblog Sun, 19 May 2013 15:55:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: michaelratner http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/2009/12/09/muting-our-criticism-of-obama-if-we-don%e2%80%99t-speak-out-who-will/#comment-690 michaelratner Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:55:18 +0000 http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/?p=11#comment-690 I think Obama could have done a lot more and it was not Congress that prevented it. He appointed the same economic people who got us into the mess. He now needs to go to the bankers and beg them to act nice. Why did he not require that when they gave them all that money? I understand the point about not saying the President is all powerful. As I said in the piece: "Of course, I do not expect miracles from one man on top of a huge national security establishment that is hard to buck. Rome was not built in a day and neither will it be dismantled in a day. But I don’t see a lot of dismantling going on. What I see is more and more building of a national security state—perhaps with a softer hand—and that is alarming." I think Obama could have done a lot more and it was not Congress that prevented it. He appointed the same economic people who got us into the mess. He now needs to go to the bankers and beg them to act nice. Why did he not require that when they gave them all that money?
I understand the point about not saying the President is all powerful. As I said in the piece:
"Of course, I do not expect miracles from one man on top of a huge national security establishment that is hard to buck. Rome was not built in a day and neither will it be dismantled in a day. But I don’t see a lot of dismantling going on. What I see is more and more building of a national security state—perhaps with a softer hand—and that is alarming."

]]> By: jte http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/2009/12/09/muting-our-criticism-of-obama-if-we-don%e2%80%99t-speak-out-who-will/#comment-689 jte Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:47:02 +0000 http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/?p=11#comment-689 I agree with all of these criticisms, but I don't agree with the notion that Obama is so much to blame for all the policy choices. Oh, he deserves his fair share of blame, no doubt, especially with regard to the prisoner/torture/war policies. But with regard to unemployment and the feeble federal response, that's an issue where I think the bulk of the blame resides with Congress. There are too many Senators and Reps who earn their lobbyist gold stars by blocking and gutting pro-employment endeavors. It's like with health care reform--with the Dems just barely approaching the numbers needed to break a filibuster, each and every "conservative" blowhard Democrat/Lieberman has the power to basically change the bill any which way they want. And they do. And so the public option dies, for no other reason than that Lieberman woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It's the same with employment programs and economic stimulus. Lieberman will kill anything larger than the meager versions already passed. Obama is powerless to change that fact. If the next election goes strongly in favor of the Republicans, it will be because of the so-called centrists who chose to inflame the reactionary fires with their so-called centrism. More broadly, I think the tendency to emphasize only the President in assigning blame promotes the problem of an excessively powerful President. People who don't like the notion of a "unitary executive" often seem to boil down the entire federal government to a unitary point of power, the executive. It is indisputably true that the Presidency has gained power over time, and that the separation of powers is too weak. But that doesn't mean that the separation of powers has ceased to exist altogether--but a lot of criticism of Obama (and Bush before him) makes it sound as though it has. (I'm speaking in general here, not necessarily about Michael Ratner's post above.) I agree with all of these criticisms, but I don't agree with the notion that Obama is so much to blame for all the policy choices. Oh, he deserves his fair share of blame, no doubt, especially with regard to the prisoner/torture/war policies. But with regard to unemployment and the feeble federal response, that's an issue where I think the bulk of the blame resides with Congress. There are too many Senators and Reps who earn their lobbyist gold stars by blocking and gutting pro-employment endeavors. It's like with health care reform–with the Dems just barely approaching the numbers needed to break a filibuster, each and every "conservative" blowhard Democrat/Lieberman has the power to basically change the bill any which way they want. And they do. And so the public option dies, for no other reason than that Lieberman woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It's the same with employment programs and economic stimulus. Lieberman will kill anything larger than the meager versions already passed. Obama is powerless to change that fact. If the next election goes strongly in favor of the Republicans, it will be because of the so-called centrists who chose to inflame the reactionary fires with their so-called centrism.

More broadly, I think the tendency to emphasize only the President in assigning blame promotes the problem of an excessively powerful President. People who don't like the notion of a "unitary executive" often seem to boil down the entire federal government to a unitary point of power, the executive. It is indisputably true that the Presidency has gained power over time, and that the separation of powers is too weak. But that doesn't mean that the separation of powers has ceased to exist altogether–but a lot of criticism of Obama (and Bush before him) makes it sound as though it has. (I'm speaking in general here, not necessarily about Michael Ratner's post above.)

]]> By: Jeff http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/2009/12/09/muting-our-criticism-of-obama-if-we-don%e2%80%99t-speak-out-who-will/#comment-669 Jeff Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:34:34 +0000 http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/?p=11#comment-669 Well said, Michael. Chris Floyd and Arthur Silber have also posted devastating critiques of Obama. Far too many people have been suckered by his gift of oratory. Now it is time to move past that and examine what he really stands for: the continuation of the agenda of the American Empire. Well said, Michael. Chris Floyd and Arthur Silber have also posted devastating critiques of Obama. Far too many people have been suckered by his gift of oratory. Now it is time to move past that and examine what he really stands for: the continuation of the agenda of the American Empire.

]]> By: Muting Our Criticism of Obama: If We Don’t Speak Out Who Will? : Chelsea Green http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/2009/12/09/muting-our-criticism-of-obama-if-we-don%e2%80%99t-speak-out-who-will/#comment-655 Muting Our Criticism of Obama: If We Don’t Speak Out Who Will? : Chelsea Green Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:03:32 +0000 http://chelseagreen.com/blogs/michaelratner/?p=11#comment-655 [...] From the Community Blogs. [...] [...] From the Community Blogs. [...]

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