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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: No Mo Mo who wrote (169489)8/18/2011 3:10:24 PM
From: Sam  Read Replies (1) of 542207
 
From a progressive perspective, he is possibly the most damaging president we've ever had.

I so so disagree with that.

No one person--even the president--does anything by him/herself. Everyone is done in a context. In national politics, the context for any "Big Rocks" has to be set up over a period of years, even decades. LBJ and Eisenhauer got a weak civil rights bill passed in 1957, and it was widely criticized. BUT-- it was a first step. It helped to change the context in which future debates would take place. The 1964 and 1965 acts were much stronger, and likely would not have been passed without the earlier acts in addition to a great deal of dialogue, sit=ins and marching.

Yeah, I think "progressives" are being impatient. And they are being stupid when they blame Obama, as if one guy actually does anything. I think that they don't know how to create contexts and don't appreciate them. The conservatives are running rhetorical circles around them. And rhetorical circles are essential. Whatever else you say about Norquist and the people he represents, they understand cultural memes, how to develop them and how to use them, how they shape the context in which legislation happens. That is what is all important. Without that context, nothing meaningful or lasting ever gets done. Norquist said that he wanted to create an environment in which even a Democratic president couldn't govern in accordance with Democratic priniciples. He is winning so far.
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