In fact, it's a great opportunity for progressives to revitalize the Democratic Party.
At last, Democrats are rebelling against Obama's "centrism" and lack of backbone.
At last, progressives can state their truths without fear of being called radicals, for they've been proved correct: centrist, compromising, spineless, bipartisan Obama has been terrible for the Party and for the nation.
On Thursday angry House Democrats rejected the President's tax compromise, as reported here. "At one point during the meeting, a chant of 'Just say no!' could be heard coming from the closed-door meeting of the Democratic Caucus. Then Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) led the group in a round of 'No we can't.'" Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio said, "For once, we're standing up to him and saying we're not going to facilitate what we believe is another mistake , plain and simple."
It's not just politicians who are becoming Obama-bashers. Journalists such as Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Katrina vanden Heuvel, and Keith Olbermann are laying it on thick. MoveOn has sent out emails denouncing the terrorist giveaway.
The evidence has now become overwhelming that Obama is, at best, incompetent and weak and, at worst, actively aiding the Republicans in their plan to strengthen corporatism, weaken unionism, undo the New Deal, and perpetuate war and other injustices.
As William Kuttner of The American Prospect says, "Let's stop pretending. Barack Obama is a disaster as a crisis president. He has taken an economic collapse that was the result of Republican ideology and Republican policies, and made it the Democrats' fault. And the more that he is pummeled, the more he bends over. "
It's amazing that Democrats didn't stand up to Obama earlier, given his escalation of the war in Afghanistan, his catering to Wall Street, his rejection of single payer and a public option, his trashing of progressive aides and candidates, and his refusal to investigate Bush era criminality. No doubt Democrats held back from criticizing Obama because they feared hurting Democrats' chances in the election.
Likewise, I'm sure that some Republicans were privately angry with President Bush for his wrongdoings, but they held their tongues for fear of aiding Democrats.
But at some point silence becomes complicity. (See Happy as a Hangman, wherein Chris Hedges quotes Solzhenitsyn: "If only there were vile people ... committing evil deeds, and if it were only necessary to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them," Solzhenitsyn wrote. "But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?")
With the election past, and with the shelllacking they received, Democrats are no longer protecting the President. Democrats are newly upset not only with Obama's compromise on tax cuts for the rich, but also with his strenuous efforts to suppress WikiLeaks -- which revealed, by the way, that Obama went out of his way to protect Bush & Cheney from prosecution for war crimes by a Spanish judge.
Obama has largely erased the differences between Republicans and Democrats. The people now think the Dems are the party of militarism, bailouts for billionaires, and corporatism, while the Republicans carry the mantle of populist anger at corrupt and intrusive government. At least Republicans stand for something. They never give in. Obama stands for nothing but compromise. All the Democrats got nothing in return for his "bipartisanship" was a shellacking in the midterm elections.
I've collected some of the evidence against Obama in this petition.
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