I just posted this on the liberal threads. Does this sound like I think Obama is a god?
Well, at last, after Richard Wolff's article I see what happened to the Obama presidency. Five years I could not sort it out, but his theory makes perfect sense. Everything fits in his equation/paradigm.
Obama ran an "outside game in both 08 and 2012, but both times once elected, he ran and inside game. He was a warrior tearing Hillary and Romney apart, but he did not want to do that to the senators and other supporters he felt he needed for his inside game. Look at how he got Obama care and this is why he never considered single payer.
And that is also why he appointed Summers and Geithner instead of Stiglitz, et al who worked on his campaign much more than Summers. He wanted inside guys. It was also why he did not prosecute any of the bankers or other insiders, or torturers, etc. He felt he needed them and could get them by cozying up to them. Why he did not fight for Warren and others.
But I feel, had he continued to run his outside game he could have achieved great things. FDR things. He could have turned the tide on the plutocrats taking over our country.
But he did not want that fight. If he had appointed Stiglitz, Krugman, Volker and Romer (the latter two he did but under Summers thumb) all hell would have broken loose because they would have advised Obama to break up the banks and prosecute Wall street. But the people were with him and he would have won in the end IMO.
Instead he disbanded his outside game and restructured for an inside game. And that was exactly when he told the liberals to quit whining.
But now all of that momentum is lost. The bankers were weak and scared in 08 and that was the time to hit them. Now they are 30% stronger than in 08 and they deserted him in 2012, so he gained nothing.
And 95% of all the money has gone to the top 1% during the last 5 years thanks to Summers and Geithner. And all the dangers of 08 are still present and the plutocrats are much stronger.
Some may not like to hear that, but Richard Wolff is pretty smart and pretty honest and he makes perfect sense. |
