tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915905970671706170.post7468651613764395580..comments2023-10-26T03:19:55.482-07:00Comments on multum non multa: on the mechanics of failurefChhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007305273044171670noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915905970671706170.post-32005605047201567532010-06-20T14:52:17.074-07:002010-06-20T14:52:17.074-07:00...hopes for Obama are misplaced. They are exhorti......hopes for Obama are misplaced. They are exhorting the wrong president. He is not even close to being either TR, much less FDR. If one really wants Obama to change and become an activist, liberal president, one must start with his economic team and call for the resignations of both Summers and Geithner, who are the core members of Obama's pro-big business stance and who have pushed even the stolid Paul Volker into the job of official window dressing manager. Obama hasn't fired either Wall Street insider because they solidify his relationship with Wall Street and the rest of the corporate power elite, and he didn't get angry at BP until very late partly because he got a large donation from BP, one of his biggest corporate supporters after Wall Street. Without the huge public outcry about his leave-it-up-to-big-business attitute toward BP, it seems unlikely that he would even have made any strong demands for an escrow fund, since he still hasn't ordered enough research staff into the Gulf. Most of the research on how much oil is escaping and on how it behaves underwater, both crucial to our knowledge of the disaster and future prevention, are still underfunded and mainly left up to a consortium of university researchers.<br /><br />The president must also ask Salazar to resign, but without the resignations of his top economic advisors, there is simply no hope of getting a robust demonstration of the ability of the government to do things right and to do them for ordinary people. Obama's covert role in killing the public health insurance option and his opposition to passing a new Glass Steagall Act and bills to limit the size of big banks and regulate derivatives without leaving big loopholes, and so on are clear evidence that he believes corporations are basically able to reform themselves if they get a few gentle nudges from the government. He basically believes in trickle-down economics and is a deficit hawk who has formed a commission that is sure to make proposals about cutting Social Securlty benefits. Asking Obama to make an about-face and preach to the American people about the virtues of a dynamic public sector is not realistic. Without the resignation of the president's core advisors, the role of government in promoting social and economic change will simply not happen with this WH. Unless, that is, the president's base learns how to put more sustained heat on the president, since the possibility of not being reelected is one of the few things he will respond to. It's time for the Dem base to make itself heard.Charles from MAnoreply@blogger.com