Sometimes the premise of an article is just all wrong. Like this from Monday‘s New York Times (see bold):
As Republicans See a Mandate on Budget Cuts, Others See Risk
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
WASHINGTON — In Congress and in statehouses, Republican lawmakers and governors are claiming a broad mandate from last year’s elections as they embark on an aggressive campaign of cutting government spending and taking on public unions. Their agenda echoes in its ambition what President Obama and Democrats tried after winning office in their own electoral wave in 2008.
They’re talking particularly about the battle in Wisconsin to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers under the guise of budget cutting and fiscal discipline. What comparable steps did Democrats take after 2008? End the Afghan War? No, they dramatically escalated it. Push for the Employee Free Choice Act in order to help bolster the ranks of the labor movement? Nope. Enact aggressive, far-reaching Wall Street reform in order to take advantage of widespread public outrage? Nope. Massive jobs program to counter horrendous unemployment? No. There were few signs that the Democratic leaders and the White House ever much considered such steps. Healthcare is the only legislative item that might make sense here–a bill that, in many respects, borrowed from Republican Mitt Romney’s plan in Massachusetts.
The point of these articles is to warn about partisan “overreach,” the need for bipartisanship, and so on. But they often have to start with a false premise–that the major parties behave in the same way, playing to their respective bases. They do not.
Of course, the Democrats’ betrayal of labor and poor and working folks in general contributed to the Republicans’ sense of opportunity, didn’t it?
And I’m wondering if there’s a Plan B here, in that, even should they not achieve the body blow to labor rights they crave, they’ve benefited from putting labor on the defensive, as witnessed in Wisconsin by the acceptance of concessions on pension and healthcare contributions.
One slogan is “It’s not about the money”, but it should be, shouldn’t it?
How do you defend collective bargaining rights by giving back that which you’ve won via exercising those rights? It would be one thing if this were about necessary sacrifices all ’round, beginning at the top.
But it’s not about that one thing, is it? It’s about creating a crisis through greed, then forcing everyone but the greedy to contribute to its solution.
And the seeming lack of solidarity on the part of labor leadership with those targeted for inhuman cuts in social services shows not only a lack of empathy, but also a blindness toward its own interests, as a grand alliance of all impacted by this reactionary agenda will be needed to successfully confront it, don’t you think?
It’s both the right thing, and the smart thing, to do.
So friggin’ do it.
Jesus …
For President Obama to have matched the aggressive ambition of the current Republicans he would have had to prosecute Bush Administration officials for war crimes and Wall-street execs for fraud, broken up the banks so none were too big to fail, and pushed a single-payer universal health care system.
This shows how little was accomplished by Obama’s painfully embarrassing attempts to make Republicans happy. Even his enormous efforts at bipartisanship are taken as equivalent to the Republicans’ absolutist, no compromise ultra-extremist agenda.
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Yes, yes! Why didn’t Obama do what Steve Levin describes? Further, please add that Obama should have done much more for our environment. For example, he could have followed up on what Jimmy Carter started but Reagan derailed — no thanks to those voters who elected Reagan — and lowered the speed limit, increased our gasoline tax gradually over years, etc. He could have reversed “globalization of our economy” that Clinton started. He should be breaking up big ag business and encouraging small, organic farmers. He should do all the things that Bill McKibben recommends in his 2010 book Eaarth. There have been so many missed opportunities over the past 4 decades and Obama keeps missing them too. I could have supported enthusiastically an Obama who did what Levin describes a president who is as pushy as the Republicans are now would have done. At present, I see Obama as simply the better of two evils…both of which are going to wreck our world.
Right on, Doug. All working people need to become aware of the peril they, and our country, are in. Labor leadership needs to get it’s head out of it’s ass, stop worrying about “getting a seat at the table” with Pro-Corporate Democrats, and ally with their true fellows in the struggle.
Enough of the false equivalencies and “both sides do it” media babble. Like Democrats really call for the killing of Republicans and the other hateful and crazy talk that the right-wing commonly engages in.
It all comes down to the immortal words of Grover Norquist and the last few decades have been, in the words of our “Defense” Department-“preparing the battlefield. You could see this coming since 1980-they have been “starving the beast” so they can “get the government down to the size where they can drown it in the bathtub,” per Norquist. The government is about the size of Andrea Yates kids so the Republicans are filling the tub.
They always tell us what they are going to do in advance and we say “Oh no, they wouldn’t be so evil and “un-Christian.” I think it makes it more enjoyable for them when they give us warnings and clues and we still walk into the trap like a herd of buffaloes. Honestly, I can’t imagine how dumb we can be over and over again. They are Lucy holding the football and we’re Charlie Brown. We just keep falling for the same old trick because we don’t wnat to believe that anyone is that venal-GUESS WHAT?? THEY ARE!
Public workers are paid less than private workers of the same experience and education. Their pensions and benefits are negotiated as part of and/or deferred compensation. That’s why they accepted less pay. If we break their contracts I’d love to see someone bring a case to invalidate all contracts if one party subsequently decides they don’t want to abide by it. What’s good for worksers should be good enough for business and government. Are we still a nation of laws and not of men? I guess we’ll find out soon.
I fervently believed when Obama went in, that he was not fit or able (with his beliefs and policies) to do what was needed to allow America to use her blessings ,and unique abilities to recover, and explode forward.It has proven so. History will show the Obama presidency was a 4 year waste of time, and resources. Empty rhetoric. Empty promises. Empty headed! These 4 years have left us more damaged. Soon we will start the real work of addressing our problems. Actually it has already begun. The distress that you are hearing is coming from those in power who led you down the wrong road. They realize the jig is up. And soon so will be their jobs.
Karen…Think about those words”differed compensations”.
“Empty rhetoric. Empty promises. Empty headed!”
Ach, Michael e iz projecting again! I zuggezzt therapy!
The parties are different in that the Republicans mostly play to (“fear”) the GOP “base,” where the Democrats do not play to (“hate”) the Dem base.
But if you redefine “base” slightly, you see that the parties are very similar: they both play to the GOP base.