Elections Ought to Matter

Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland expressed this sentiment saying, “We're certainly not going to lose sight of our goals and our values. ... If you look at the progressive promise - 95 percent of what we advocated for, energy independence, infrastructure, health care reform - it's mainstream.”

Progressives should not hold back because of the Bill O’Reilly dogma that the far-left thinks Obama owes them a handout. Progressives should not worry that they somehow pose a threat to moderates if they act boldly and impact business as usual.

Unlike Bush, Obama did not become president after a recount or a shady Supreme Court decision. He became president fair and square and now, unlike Bush who enjoyed a 53 percent approval rating in his first month in office, polls are showing that at least 70 percent of Americans favor Barack Obama.

Bob Burnett click here recently, “Obama has built up political capital. Now he needs to expend it in a series of bold initiatives to solve America's financial crisis and plot a new economic course.”

The American people want Barack Obama to succeed and are ready to put their faith in his ability to lead, build a consensus, and then take the necessary steps to implement policies or take action which reflects that consensus.

Americans’ hopes were raised with the campaign and election of Barack Obama. Each person who was involved in Obama’s campaign or the election had a personal investment in achieving victory. But, it now appears that those who had a personal investment are being asked to accept a so-called reality.

The so-called reality people are being asked to accept is that all that Obama promised cannot be done. People are being asked to realize that serious limitations exist to prevent Obama’s plan for hope and change from being fully implemented.

Many are being told to face up to the fact that Obama’s rhetoric was just that. It was rhetoric. And therefore, what he said was not backed up with policy or actions that could be taken to fulfill his promises.

To a certain extent, I agree.

Howard Zinn before the election warned against millions of votes being tactically wasted and declared that these wasted votes would only increase the “mandateless landslide of Barack Obama.”

Obama was nebulous in his declarations of hope and change. But, his nebulosity allowed for him to win.

Obama’s win presents the Democrats with an opportunity. In fact, we should all treat Obama and opportunity as if the two are interchangeable.

We Americans should assess the situation like this:

We now have the Obama to end the wars and the phony illegal “war on terror.”

We now have the Obama to stop the torture.

We now have the Obama to put an end to warrantless wiretapping.

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