We knew this was coming, though I’m surprised it took so long. The Obama sycophants have started targeting progressives who are not afraid to criticize a Democrat.
I was alerted to this by a wall posting from Mark Doty on his Facebook page, but it is the kind of thing that David Sirota has been writing about and is reminiscent of Clinton’s progressive defenders during the 1990s.
Jeff McMahon, an environmental reporter writing on Truth/Slant, attacked the poet Mark Doty for slipping into a lefty version of no-nothingism. Doty, he says, ignores the facts about the Obama administration’s response to the Gulf oil spill (McMahon, apparently, is ignoring his own set of facts, which include failures by the Obama administration in the permitting process for Gulf drilling).
Populist anger inspired and perpetuated by ignorance of the facts, remaining undeterred by the facts: it’s not terribly different from those who believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya and who continue to believe it even when shown his birth certificate. The certificate is probably a forgery, they insist.
But is Doty the lefty equivalent of a birther? Is he walking away from Obama because of a misreading of the facts? Or, as I would argue (and I think Mark would concur), is the Gulf spill just the final cut of a thousand cuts, another sell-out from an administration that is far less progressive than many may have expected.
McMahon acknowledges that the left has to apply pressure, but he undercuts his own argument by raising the specter of a return of the Bush crowd to office:
It’s not a bad idea to put pressure on the government. It will probably be met with more attention to the Gulf and more vigor from the White House, if only in the form of better management of information. But it goes too far to categorically withdraw support for Obama based on BP’s disaster.
What no progressive seems to consider is that a weakened Obama probably will not be replaced by Ralph Nader or Jerry Brown. Only two years ago, we had a White House full of oil company executives, who are far more likely to return to power than the “Uncompromising Man” or “Governor Moonbeam.”
If Bush’s men do surf back into power, it will be on a wave of populist anger.
This argument — as David Sirota makes clear this week — has the effect of stripping the left of what little power it might have, making it appear to be little more than an adjunct of the Democratic Party.
I’ve written before about Obama’s abandonment of the very people who got him elected, about how his commitment to bipartisan consensus — which I believe stands in for ideology and leaves him without a governing philosophy — has allowed him to cut loose gays and lesbians (16 months into his term and all the LGBT community has to show for a friend in the White House is a minor executive order and a promise on DADT), civil libertarians (read Glenn Greenwald’s excellent dissections of Obama’s Bushian turns in this area) and economic populists (a smaller-than-necessary stimulus, corporate health-care plan, and so on).
The appointment of Ken Salazar — one of oil’s best friends in the Senate — to the Interior post, which is part of the story of what is happening in the Gulf as I write this, is very much a part of this lackluster record.
Democratic sycophants who are unwilling to acknowledge this are not doing anyone any favors, least of all the president they claim to support.
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Hank Kalet 
I have such mixed feelings about Hank's comments about angry Obama sycophants. I agree and disagree. Though I have so many disagreements with Obama, I can't help but think of the alternative, President McCain and VP Palin. We would be so much worse off with those two clowns. The whole privatizing of Social Security thing would be in high gear in the McCain presidency at this point. We would not have health care reform with President McCain. Obama has kept us out of a great depression, so far, and he has enacted health care reform, flawed though it might be.Whether we like it or not, it always boils down to the evil of the 2 lessers.It's not as if Obama doesn't have enough people sliming, swift boating and bashing him. The right wing, the GOP, Fox News and hate wing radio have been demonizing Obama non stop, 24/7 since at least 2007. They claim that Obama is a non-citizen, socialist, Marxist, Nazi, fascist, big government commie. Crazy stuff. Of course liberals and progressives should speak their mind and voice their disagreements with Obama. I am so disappointed with Obama's educational policies, they are horrible, it's almost worse than Bush. I don't think Obama is going to support EFCA and will he stoutly defend Social Security? We're not getting out of Iraq or Afghanistan fast enough. Obama is so far from being a fire breathing liberal that it is ridiculous. He's a very moderate middle of the road Clinton-like corporate friendly Democrat.
Hank, thank you for commenting on my post about progressives behaving like birthers. I think you gave it a good try, but I would dispute a few points.First, I wasn't and I am not angry. It seems odd you'd make a claim about my emotion. I'll just note that it conflicts with Mark Doty's claim that my argument leaves no room for anger.Second, I don't agree that the specter of Bush undercuts my argument. My argument is that people should criticize Obama freely, but not categorically withdraw support based on misinformation. All you have to do is read the portion you quoted. I think the specter of Bush is exactly the right hazard to worry about in the ill-informed division of a center-left coalition. Or don't we learn from history?Third, I'm calling upon people to inform their criticism. At the time Doty claimed the feds were doing nothing about the oil spill he didn't know the Coast Guard was supervising it or that the government's role is governed by the Oil Pollution Act. If you really think it an act of sycophancy for people to become informed, then the idiocracy has bipartisan support.All the best to you,Jeff McMahon