How Progressives Can Move Obama to the Left

Fire Dog Lake - After talking about this with a great many progressives on our show, I’ve come to some conclusions. These are so self-evident that they will be viewed as obvious in hindsight.

So, what Obama does by his nature is find the middle ground. As an excellent innate politician, he will find the political center of any field and rush to it. That’s where elections are won – the center. So, that’s why he sounded so progressive during the primaries, because that was the center of the left. And why he sounded like such a reformer during the general election because the great majority of Americans desperately wanted change.

So, what happened to that Obama? The country is the same, so why did Obama drop the progressive reformer angle and go toward the right and corporate America? Because his field changed. He went from campaigning all across the country to being in the middle of Washington, DC. The center of Washington is very different than the center of the country.

Right now, Obama perceives the center of the country to be somewhere between Dick Cheney and Harry Reid. Do you know where that leaves him? Joe Lieberman. That’s why we’re in the sorry shape we’re in now.

The reality is that Howard Dean is a moderate. Progressives in Vermont were upset with him when he was governor because they thought he was too far right. I just heard from someone who was on a cruise that The Nation organized and that Howard Dean spoke at. The crowd on the cruise nearly booed him when he spoke because they thought he was far too moderate.

If you look at Dean’s policies, they are right down the middle of the country. That’s part of the reason his 50 state strategy worked so well. But the establishment media hate him. Why? Because he points out when they’re doing something wrong – and he winds up being proven right in the end. There’s nothing that irritates the establishment more than that.

Let’s get real, we already lost the health care fight. But luckily, something even more important is up next. Financial reform. That’s where we know for a fact the American people have our back. We also already know that Obama’s Treasury Department is a joke. Tim Geithner has fought reformers in the House every step of the way. It’s time to take out a couple of lead pipes and a blow torch and go to work on his ass.

This has the advantage of being true. If you don’t have the stomach for being this tough on Obama and the Democrats, well then you don’t have the stomach for politics. And you will permanently be the Republican’s bitches. Read more.