Obama-- Failed President, Failed Leader-- Could Still Save the Democrats... but he won't

Polls for November are looking bleaker and bleaker-- could be a worst rout than 1993. Who to blame? I blame the White House and congressional leaders-- Obama, Emanuel, Reid, Pelosi... they failed to embrace the power they were given, sold out to corporations and proved the further lefts claims that there is little difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Sure, they wrap the package differently, but Obama, Reid, Pelosi-- more Reid than Pelosi-- brought legislation to the floor that was hollow, promising reform but so full of loopholes and so eviscerated of real strong reforms, they were more dressing the substance.

Obama's appointment of a team almost totally comprised of DLC Clinton White House veterans was an outrageous betrayal of his promise of change. I'd have voted for Hillary and enjoyed seeing the first woman president elected if I'd known he was going to engage in appointments that did the opposite of move towards change.

Obama could still pull out the November elections. He could appoint Elizabeth Warren to the Consumer Protection Agency and tell corpo whore Chris Dodd to go f*ck himself.

Obama could fire-- not accept resignations from-- fire the Rober Rubin economic disaster team-- Summers, Geithner, etc. Replace them with Krugman, Stieglitz-- economists who have seen the problems not caused them.

Obama could demote Rahm Emanuel to Afghan ambassador and put him in Kandahar or some other hell hole. Replace him with someone who actually respects Progressives and all the parts of the Democratic party-- Howard Dean, maybe.

Obama could appoint strong environmental defenders to key posts. He could appoint strong consumer and public advocates to a score of regulatory agencies, so the American people would at least see that he is taking strong action to protect them from corporations and the corporate insiders who Bush and even Clinton placed in positions where the foxes have been guarding the henhouse.

These are things the president can do. But he won't. He's a failure-- a failed president, a failed leader of the Democratic party. Like George Bush, he's a likeable nice guy. In one of the Diehard movies, Bruce Willis is told, "You're an a**hole, but OUR kind of a**hole." Well, Obama's not our kind of president. He could have been. He still has the potential to wake up and to wake us up from our shared nightmare. But so far, he's no-one's kind of a**hole-- not Democrats or Republicans-- he's just an a**hole with bad ideas and weak leadership who let not only the US but the whole world down.

For Obama apologists who always argue that he's passed health care and finance reform and we should be satisfied with what he did, I have to laugh. Health care stocks went up after the gift to the health industry was passed. And finance stocks went up after the "tough reforms" of the finance industry were passed. Investors showed that Obama and the Congress sold the US people, the middle class, out to banksters and health care CEOs and left us with empty shell legislation that was not the real deal. But it was enough to fool some Democrats.

I don't know if the US or the middle class can survive two or more years of Republican rule. My hope is that after two years with the Republicans running the House, getting minus zero done, Obama will be rejected as the 2012 candidate and Elizabeth Warren will be recruited to run. We need someone who has a track record of looking out for the American people. We also need to change the election finance laws. One small thing you can do is go to
fixcongressfirst.org and act.