The first few weeks of the Obama administration, from a progressive perspective, have been mixed. Forget the failed appointment of Tom Daschle — that is a minor hiccup, as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night — and consider the actual policies:
- Telling the EPA to stop sitting on California’s request for an emissions waiver so that the state and 12 others can impose much harsher requirements on auto.
- Ordering the closing of the Guantanamo prison and rebuking the Bush administration’s stance on torture.
- Reversing a policy that banned international groups that received U.S. aid from even discussing abortion.
- Including not only roads and bridges in his stimulus plan, but also green technologies, expanded broad-band access, new schools and aid for homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient.
- Passing the expansion of SCHIP.
On the other hand, he has allowed the GOP to control the debate over the stimulus and peopled his cabinet with old Clinton hands and Republicans — essentially, the very people who got us into the economic mess we’re in.
As I’ve written, there are two Obamas — the progressive-leaning, former community organizers and the cautious conciliator. This internal conflict makes it imperative that progressives (liberals, lefties, etc. — whatever it is you want to call us) apply pressure.
It is what David Sirota, who has become one of the more indispensable bloggers out there, calls
“The Make Him Do It” Dynamic – that is, how congressional progressives – with the help of the progressive movement – were having success pushing President Obama to take much stronger stands on issues than he seems inclined to take.
It is exactly the kind of active engagement that the liberals avoided during the 1990s, allowing a Democratic president to drift to the right and marginalize his own party’s populist and progressive elements.
Whereas, Clinton-era disengagement resulted in the “end of welfare as we know it,” a Draconian crime bill, NAFTA and so-called reform of the telecommunications, banking and insurance industries (really nothing more than deregulation), Obama-era engagement already is having its successes.
Consider this news:
The Obama administration outlined plans today to tighten restrictions on executive compensation for future recipients of federal aid under the government’s financial rescue program, but the large majority would be able to opt out of most of the limits.
Companies that take the largest chunks of help would face mandatory restrictions on compensation for their senior executives: no more than $500,000 in salary, and no additional compensation other than shares of the company’s stock that can only be redeemed after the government investment is repaid.
Those same rules, however, would be voluntary for most recipients of government aid. Companies could waive the restrictions by informing shareholders.
The rules are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to address mounting public anger over the government’s efforts to rescue firms at the heart of the economic crisis.
This is, as David Sirota points out, a major about face for the administration, which had said publicly that it opposed such limits. So what happened?
Sirota, who has become one of the most indispensable of bloggers, points to engagement of real progressives and a grassroots push that forced moderates like U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mont.) to start singing populist tunes. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for instance, has been getting regular facetime on the issue, which has helped inject populist sentiment into the coverage.
This is a huge victory for the progressive movement, and augurs well for “The Make Him Do It” Dynamic in the weeks and months ahead.
But only if progressives keep applying pressure and injecting themselves into the public discussion.
This full-court-press approach — lefty populists appearing on TV and forcing their concerns into the debate, labor unions and community groups organizing to catch the ears of their elected representatives — is needed to cut through the TV clutter. The voices of Bernie Sanders, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Peter Fazio (D-Ore.) are needed on television, along with labor leaders and others to make it clear that there will be a political price to pay for elected officials from both parties if the stimulus fails to get through Congress or gets watered down.
Hank Kalet 