[Vision2020] Say What? (local and recent)

[Reggie Holmquist]

*On Afghanistan:*  You may be aware that there are an estimated 10,000
fundamentalist militants in South Waziristan (Pakistan, on the border of
Afghanistan).  Most foreign policy experts agree that failed states (see:
Afghanistan) are breeding grounds for terrorism.  If America leaves
Afghanistan, those 10,000 militants will flood into Afghanistan, impose
their will upon Afghans, and grow in strength and power.  If that was the
only problem, I would have less of an issue, but Pakistan's nuclear arsenal
is kind of scary.  It is well-documented that there are a significant number
of fundamentalist sympathizers within the Pakistani military.  I read an
article by Seymour Hersh that talked about an actual terrorist attack (a
suicide bombing I believe) that occurred *in one of the military
institutions where the Pakistani holds nuclear weapons*.  The scary thought
to me is the idea that those fundamentalist militants will end up with the
ability to launch a Pakistani nuclear weapon.  I'm not saying it's an
open-and-shut case in favor of Afghanistan occupation, but I am saying that
there is not an open-and-shut case in favor of withdrawal.  There are
potential consequences we should keep in mind.  Personally, I am
vacillating.  That said, I support the President in his decision and I don't
know what I would do if i were in his position.  I'm just glad I don't have
to make those sorts of decisions.
*
On Drone attacks in Pakistan:*  Again, a toughy.  The Wikileaks docu-dump
showed that Pakistan has been essentially working with America's enemies
behind her back.  If Pakistan would take care of the militants in South
Waziristan, this would not be an issue.  They either can't, or don't want
to.  Pakistani government "implosion" is unlikely and not really much of a
concern, IMHO.  And if sovereignty is such a concern, do you think we should
stay out of Libya as well?

On Guantanamo:  Yeah, well Obama signed an executive order to shut it down,
but Congress passed a bill specifically forbidding him from using funds to
shut down Guantanamo or transfer prisoners into America.  You can't pin this
one on Obama.
*
"He's doing his best to convince me he doesn't deserve my vote."*

Unfortunately, in our system an Idahoan's vote for President doesn't matter
a single Iota.  If it did, I would be compelled to rant about how America's
plurality voting system turns a vote for, say, Weiner, into a vote for
whatever Republican candidate is opposing Obama.  The system sucks, that is
true.  However, until we can (if we can) change that system, we must work
within its confines.  That means that the right thing to do is to vote for
(and convince others to vote for) the least bad of the two viable candidates
every single election.

My personal belief is that the President can only be slightly left of the
Senate Democratic Caucus (hereafter SDC).  It is the SDC that drives
Democratic policy and it is the SDC that hold all the power.  The SDC is
unnaturally conservative as a result of the Senate system for many reasons
(to name two:  ID voters have 70 times more representation in the Senate
than CA voters; Democratic metropolitan centers in swing/conservative states
have no effective representation in the Senate).  The reason the Pres can
only be slightly left of the SDC is because to do otherwise is to put him at
odds with the SDC.  In that battle, the SDC is likely to come out on top
every time, not because they are right, but because the optics of that
potential situation would tend to "normalize" the SDC while "radicalizing"
Obama.  If the Republicans, for example, had a large "moderate" faction, the
"moderate" faction would make the conservative faction look radical by
comparison.

For example, if Obama had, say, vetoed the PPAFA because it didn't have a
public option, two things would have happened.  First, the bill would have
failed, because the SDC would never have allowed the bill to pass with a
public option.  Second, this would have set up a dichotomy between Obama and
the SDC.  When Americans see internal strife within the Democratic Party,
the tend to side (however wrongly) with the faction that appears more
"moderate."  This is an unfortunate reality, and it has more to do with the
fact that most Americans don't really pay that much attention than the idea
that Americans actually agree with the more "moderate" faction of the SDC.

Democrats are at a huge disadvantage because of the SDC.  Even when
Democrats had 59 Senators, 16 of those were "moderates."  In a lot of
situations, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a Democratic President
to push for progressive legislation because he won't be able to get that
legislation passed anyway, and the fight between the Pres and the SDC will
only hurt Democrats.
*
The only solution I can see is for the State Parties (IDP, for example) to
adopt a strategy of ONLY running actual progressives for the Senate. * Until
we can get a SDC which is more conducive to our goals, attacking the
President from the left is counter-productive to our own goals.

All that said, I do think it is fair to criticize the President over his
silence regarding the coordinated attack on unions.  Even the SDC is on the
side of the progressives on that one, and it's not national legislation
anyway.  This coordinated attack on unions is mostly confined to state
legislatures, but it would be really nice to see Obama use his bully pulpit
to stand up for the rights of workers.

Regardless, all the other viable 08 (and potential 2012) candidates were
(and are) much much worse than Obama.  He was the best viable candidate then
and he is the best viable candidate for 2012 as well.  In America's
plurality voting system, a vote for anyone other than Obama is a vote for
the Republican nominee.

Rant over.

-Reggie




On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 1:06 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> My sentiments exactly, Sunil.
>
> Obama lost my respect when he started caving in to Boehner.
>
> I'm voting for Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York as a write-in come election
> day.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
> - Unknown
>
>
> On Mar 27, 2011, at 12:29, Sunil Ramalingam <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Does Dale say Obama represents the left (whatever that is) because he's
> intellectually lazy, or ignorant, or simply because it fits his narrative?
> He's not shown too much interest in facts or the truth. Perhaps he simply
> refers to the fact that many on the left, like me, did support him and vote
> for him. But his recent actions make it clear that if I thought he
> represented me, I was mistaken.
> >
> > Obama is no leftist. He's a centrist who is ever moving to the right,
> much like Clinton did.
> >
> > Is he a warmonger? Not one like Bush, but he's continued Bush's Iraq
> occupation, and is keeping his wrong-headed pledge to wage war in
> Afghanistan. We will not 'win' there, or in Iraq, and belong in neither
> country.
> >
> > He's stepped up drone attacks in Pakistan. I don't know how any state can
> maintain legitimacy with its people while allowing a foreign power to bomb
> its people. We should not be surprised if that government implodes. Then of
> course we can pull out our hair worrying about what will happen to its
> nuclear arsenal. Maybe the time to worry is now, and we should not take
> these actions.
> >
> > He's kept Guantanimo open, though if he was seriously interested in
> shutting it down, the Republicans are dedicated to keeping it open. He lacks
> the guts to take action to shut it down while they oppose it. And his recent
> statements about Private Manning's treatment were shameful.
> >
> > I'm well to the left of Obama. His actions above do not represent me. I
> wonder why he keeps silent as a coordinated Republican plan to destroy
> unions and collective bargaining is waged across the country. A leftist
> would say and do something about it.
> >
> > He's doing his best to convince me he doesn't deserve my vote.
> >
> > Sunil
> >
> > > Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:35:55 -0700
> > > From: thansen at moscow.com
> > > To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> > > Subject: [Vision2020] Say What? (local and recent)
> > >
> > > "Protests essentially stopped after the 2008 election. The left now
> have
> > > their warmonger in the White House."
> > >
> > > - Dale Courtney (March 26, 2011)
> > > http://right-mind.us/blogs/blog_0/archive/2011/03/26/79725.aspx
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Seeya round town, Moscow.
> > >
> > > Tom Hansen
> > > Moscow, Idaho
> > >
> > > "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
> change
> > > and the Realist adjusts his sails."
> > >
> > > - Unknown
> > >
> > >
> > > =======================================================
> > > List services made available by First Step Internet,
> > > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> > > http://www.fsr.net
> > > mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> > > =======================================================
> > =======================================================
> > List services made available by First Step Internet,
> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> >               http://www.fsr.net
> >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> > =======================================================
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>



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