As the blogosphere blathered and the unions splintered, there was very little leverage or organizing underway to reach out to his campaign activists. As the right built people power, the left built polemics. As his opponents--those that hated him and denied his legitimacy--- seized the initiative, the Obamacrats moved into defensive bunkers keeping up appearances, one step forward, two back. They cultivated Congressmen, not constituencies.
Once he realized that the most "powerful man in the world," only had the power to propose while Congress disposes; once he realized that the right not only would not play bi-partisan games and that the GOP had been taken over by the bully boys; once he realized that they would intimate their own to enforce "discipline;" once he realized that they would not even accept the legitimacy of his election or citizenship; once he realized that to survive he needed to embrace the Pentagon's logic and the dictates of the Wall Street donors who had backed him".
Once he realized he was virtually alone in the Big House (yes, that is a metaphor, too, for a prison), the die was cast. He was captured, with a noisy chorus of naysayers on the right and left limiting his options.
He was trapped by the logic of his choices and the limits of his vision.
Which is not to say he was ever a man of the left. He told us that he would escalate the Afghan war during the campaign. He showed us where he stood on the economic collapse with his appointees like Summers, Geithner et.al. To fight off the right, he needed the center and the media on his side. He is by nature cautious and cunning, moving step by step, winning some battles, losing or giving up others. He knows that a president can't pitch a perfect game. He's a perception manager, not a street fighter. For many he is a big disappointment.
For others, the question is "did you expect Che Guevara?'
The challenge now is not to walk down memory lane but to strategize about building the future in an imperfect world. What lessons can we learn and apply? How can the progressives reenergize an outside-in strategy, how can they/we start re-framing issues, building a base and then mobilizing it? Will there be a return to the streets or more co-optation by the illusions of power in the suites?
Perhaps the disillusion now building on the left, will lead to more direct challenges to the Obama style and approach. On the other hand it could lead to fatalism and a dropping out of politics by people who were mesmerized by his charisma and naà ¯ve about how politics really works. . If that happens, the right will dominate the discourse and try to retake the Congress.
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