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How
Obama screwed up
by Peter Fuhry
partially unraveled for the rich-enriching fraud it was. The economy was in danger of a serious collapse under
the weight of Wall Street's bullshit financial manipulations made possible by years and years of Republican
sponsored deregulation. Obama beat a bumbling and laughable McCain / Palin ticket.
He should have done this upon taking the Oath of Office:
1. Initiated investigations into the wrongdoings of the Bush Administration. This would have kept their malfeasance
on the public's mind. It would have been a further humilation of them - and it would have taught future administrations
that there are consequences to disregarding the Constitution. Yes, some would have decried his 'vindictiveness'.
But most would have learned something important about what happened.
2. Let the crooked, bloated, foundationless financial institutions collapse, investigated and exposed their wrongdoing,
and then stepped in and directed the resources of the Federal Government to help citizens directly. Yes, there would
have been more job loss and upheaval in peoples' lives. But the Government would have gotten a good name as a
helper of people. And the crooked, stupid banks (and their CEO's) that lobbied for deregulation and then slipped on
their own shit would have been disgraced and replaced by institutions with some long term business sense.
Deregulation as a concept would have been delegitimized.
3. Told Harry Reid that he should strip Lieberman of his committee posts, or he would lobby for a different Senate leader.
Instead he did this:
1. Pledged to "move on" and didn't bother to hold the Bush Administration accountable for all the shit they pulled.
People forgot about all the shit they pulled, or no one else learned about it, and thus, in 2 short years,
the Republican party went from a disgraced laughingstock to a party capable of taking back the Congress.
He had them down and could have stepped on their neck. Instead, he gave them a hand up.
2. Used the resources of the Federal Government to prop up failing banks and institutions, in order to minimize
upheaval and keep things running more smoothly. Yes, this saved a lot of people a lot of stress and heartbreak
in the short term. The problem is that none of these people had any idea what happened or how he helped them.
And in the long term, he resusciated the very institutions that had screwed things up so royally.
3. Made nice with Lieberman, who had absolutely stabbed him in the back during the election.
Which showed both Lieberman and the Blue Dogs that there was no consequence to stabbing him in the back.
We can talk about his legislative strategy stuff and the way he's framed issues, but I think he shot his presidency
and the Democratic agenda in the foot right from the start. Perkel was right - the hijacking of the 2000 election
10 years ago was a turning point in our history. Obama had an opportunity to stop the bleeding and reverse
the damage. That he did not seize the opportunity suggests to me that he did not recognize the bleeding and
the damage. My conclusion is that Barack Obama is intellectual, cultured and sophisticated, but not very smart.
And way too many Democrats did not recognize the difference, and they're not very smart either.
Which gives them something in common with the Tea-baggers they love to ridicule. We all need to get smart.
The first step is to realize we're not. And that anyone who says we are is blowing smoke up our ass and picking our pocket.
Apparently Obama went to Washington to be loved.
He seems to have "father issues," always trying to please anyone older than he is.