A...sigh...Brilliant Maneuver

OK, so I don’t know if I’ll have time to make this super humorous, but I have a few thoughts on this “deal” that Obama is agreeing to with the Republicans. Supposedly, thought the deal has yet to be announced, it contains some pretty decent cuts in Social Security as well as Medicare.

1. If this in fact is true, Obama has completely betrayed his Democratic base. He betrayed us when he took the “public option” off the table for health care reform. He betrayed us when he refused to end the Bush tax cuts (which, by the way, would have gone a long way toward solving this deficit problem). He completely blew it when he allowed most of his stimulus package (which was too small in the first place) to come in the form of tax cuts. And finally, if he cuts the Social Security and Medicare benefits, he’s ignoring 80% of the American people, who don’t want any cuts in these programs.

2. It might also be one of the most brilliant political moves in recent history. Because where, progressives, are we going to go? The Republican party basically wants to bring about a society where there are too classes: slaves and masters. They are the manifestation of pure evil. They would sell their own daughters into prostitution if it meant they could gain power. Right now, deep in the bowels of Dick Cheney’s compound, they have necromancers working around pentagram shaped clocks to resurrect Dracula, Voldemort, Sauron, Emperor Palpatine, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. They think Dennis Miller is funny. So, if we’re choosing the lesser of two evils, Obama’s our guy.
Moreover, this political maneuver leaves Republicans no place to go in terms of message and platform. They can’t say we have a debt problem, because Obama will have dealt with it. They can’t say they want to reform Medicare and Social Security—it’ll already have been done. They can’t say Obama’s spending too much money right after a much publicized debt deal to cut our deficit by 4 trillion in the next 10 years. Where are they going to go? More tax cuts? That’s not going to fly. Abortion? That will lose them votes. The same with anti-gay messaging. Now jobs…
Well, they may crow about the state of the economy, but they don’t have any remedies for it. Tax cuts don’t work, and the public is starting to understand that. Cut regulations? No, that led to the Wall Street crisis. Get rid of Obama Care? That is also a losing proposition—most Americans want health care reform, especially as they see insurance companies continue to ratchet up their rates. See? If this deal gets done the Republicans don’t have a leg to stand on, and if they try to manufacture another crisis like this one, that’ll surely spell disaster for them in 2012—public opinion is already turning against them this time.
And that is why what Obama has done is so brilliant. Progressives have no choice but to vote for him, because they won’t vote for a Republican, and they know what happens if they stay home: 2010. On the other hand, the Republican base has no reason to be motivated at this point, debt crisis well in hand, and their evil candidates have nothing to run on that is going to motivate independents to vote for them.

3. This is still only brilliant for one person: Obama. It’s not good for the country, because on the whole, our domestic policies continue to move right, which is the wrong direction—the further we head down that road the worse our economy will be. So, here is what progressives need to do:

A) Unless some awesome progressive challenger comes forward, like Bernie Sanders, we have to re-elect Obama in 2012. He is way better than anyone on the Republican side (can you imagine what would happen to a liberal state like Oregon when Michelle Bachmann got one of her headaches as commander in chief?), and in the end, he’s proven that he’ll sign bills and do the business of the people, thus…

B) WE HAVE TO ELECT DEMOCRATIC MAJORITIES IN BOTH HOUSES! If we can get good progressive politicians in office in 2012, we’ll be able to get legislation that might actually be able to address some of the huge issues we face as a nation, and my guess is, Obama will aid them and sign their bills.

C) We need to start looking for an ACTUAL progressive presidential candidate for 2016, one who will actually CHANGE the way D.C. works, instead of lying about it to win an election. I would even tend to say that it would be better if this person were an Independent, because that could deal a potential death blow to the Republican party, which, if you oppose evil you’ll agree, should be eradicated as soon as possible. This happens in America’s history every so often—one party become irrelevant, another party changes its position, and a new party springs into life. In this case, the Republican party may well become irrelevant, the Democrats will be the new conservatives (as they’re proving every damn day), and the Independent party, or some other party, will be the new liberals.

D) Don’t lose hope! We’re so much smarter than the cons, we have the truth on our side, and ingenious solutions to the problems we face as a nation. Keep working, keep electing progressives, stay active, and eventually, we’ll see the changes we need to make this nation great again. Keep the faith!