(via Rachel Maddow)
Another day, another opportunity to wonder how and why things have jumped the tracks as they have. Yesterday I vented, furious at what felt (and still feels) like abject betrayal from a President who owes his job to Progressives like me. No, it’s not that I think he “owes” something to Progressives- other than a promise to do the right thing- but I guess I was hoping for better. Never did I think that barely two years into his term, he would betray Progressives…and then chastise us for not blindly getting in line behind him.
Barack Obama was a great concept during the 2008 campaign. The vision and the beliefs he communicated told Americans that he wanted something different, something better for this country. He promised a move away from the “government of, by, and for the rich” philosophy that had been the hallmark of the Bush Administration. Now, I find myself wondering if we weren’t just sold a bill of goods. I can hear my Conservative friends and readers snickering and saying “I told you so”…and all I can say to that is “John McCain? Really??”
I can’t begin to know the future, or to understand what other betrayals lay in front of us. All I know is we still have Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we’re still in Guantanamo Bay, we don’t have a public option, and now we’re subsidizing the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class. It would be easy to think that President Obama has served his base a heaping portion of “&%$# you!”, and to wonder what other surprises will be forced upon us. I, like most of us who voted for Obama, was expecting this President to be a man of courage and conviction. I was expecting him to follow through on the commitments he made during the 2008 campaign. I certainly wasn’t expecting a man afraid of a fight with Republicans.
What saddens me the most is that I’m beginning to agree with Mitch McConnell- perhaps Job One really should be ensuring that Barack Obama is a one-term President.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
