The Fall of Obama and the Democratic Party

Just a few years ago, when the Democrats took control of Congress in the last years of the worst Presidential administration in modern U.S. History, things looked so good for the Democrats. The they won the White House and a young, charismatic African-American Democratic President brought hope and change... and then.. they blew it!

If ever there was a time for a great progressive/left awakening and a political realignment from the failed policies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and yes, Bill Clinton, it was now. Capitalism was in its biggest crisis since the Great Depression--we were in another depression! Thirty Years of Reaganomics and "free trade" (NAFTA, etc.) had lead the country off the cliff--deregulation led to economic disaster and the collapse of the banking system. The auto industry was on the verge of bankruptcy. The gap between the rich and poor continued to grow. Good paying American jobs were moved overseas, and wages declined.

Instead of taking this historic opportunity to change course and put government on the side of workers and labor to rebuild the middle class, the Obama administration continued to policies of George W. Bush to bail out the banksters who caused the economic disaster, then bailed out the failing auto industry, and continued the Bush administration's lenient regulation of the oil industry and then the BP oil disaster hit and demonstrated the complete failure of capitalism and the criminal activities of the oil companies, and instead of challenging the corporate ruling elite, the Obama administration sided over and over again with Wall Street and the corporate rich.

We needed at least another FDR to stand up to the corporate aristocracy and put workers back to work with massive public investments, instead we got a watered down package of tax cuts and far too little public investment to create jobs. Instead of a single-payer national healthcare system, or even the choice of a public option to private insurance, we got a watered down health insurance industry friendly expansion of private insurance, and a mandate for strugging workers and families to buy private insurance. Even with all these concessions to capitalism and the corporate elites, Obama was still labelled a "socialist" by the right-wing media.

So now we face the inevitable defeat of Obama and the Democratic Party in November 2010. While the Republicans played their hand well, blocking every progressive legislation and even opposing moderate and conservative policies they supported in the past, Obama and the Democrats failed to use all the power they had to push back against the corporate backed right-wing regressive forces and push a progressive agenda. Obama was NOT a FDR, he wasn't even a good Jimmy Carter. He stayed on the sidelines as Congress made a mess out of healthcare and financial regulation reform. He did not lead. Obama shares much of the blame for the defeat of Democrats in November.

Maybe if the Republicans take control of Congress and push their radical, right-wing, anti-labor, pro-business agenda, the American progressive/left will rise up as the right-wing Tea Party has and change the direction of the Democratic Party, or even better, begin organizing a post-Democratic Party socialist/labor party.

Rob Kall lays it out on OdEd News
The Democrats are going to lose big in November, possibly really big.
It's probably too late to do anything about it.
Here's a partial list of the guilty parties who caused the Democratic party to fail:
Who To Blame When Dems Loose Big in November

Another interesting article by Cenk Uygur comparing Obama to Ronald Reagan:
Who is More Conservative: Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama?