Barack Obama

New Health Care Coalition Calls on Lawmakers Not to Ignore Retiree Health Care

Alex Hogan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:13:10 -0700

As members of Congress return to Washington, D.C. to address health care reform, a new alliance of businesses and labor unions is reminding policy makers not to forget the health care needs of a key segment of the population: Americans aged 55-64.

The Bridge Years Health Coalition, which includes the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Communication Workers of America and Verizon Communications, is launching a public campaign to let President Barack Obama and lawmakers know that any serious health care reform bill must ensure access to affordable, quality health care for the approximately 33 million Americans who are nearing retirement but are facing an increasingly uncertain financial future.

In a letter the coalition addressed to congressional leaders, it writes that for these "Bridge Years" workers:

(M)edian income is dropping and their health is declining. Many are in financial jeopardy - retirement savings slashed by falling equity markets, worried about whether they will be able to keep their jobs ... The availability and cost of health insurance can be the difference between a secure retirement and economic collapse.

Workers who fall into the 55-64 range find themselves in a precarious position in today's economy. Too young to receive Medicare, they are viewed as too "old" by many private insurers, with premiums as much as five times higher than those for younger workers.

For those between the ages of 60 and 64, nearly one and three applicants for individual insurance are denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. This lack of affordable insurance makes early retirement impossible for many workers, which means holding on to a job that provides coverage becomes the difference between financial stability and ruin.

For companies that do provide health care coverage for retirees, the rising cost of health care is creating a tremendous financial strain.

According to IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill:

Retiree health care is becoming one of the most contentious issues our union has to deal with when we sit down at the bargaining table. Our members and our employers need some relief from Washington so the health care of our retirees isn't put at risk.

The coalition advocates that Congress explore different options to make sure bridge years workers are covered, including:

* Giving them a choice of plans that are subject to a reasonable age rating limit and ban exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

* Government-funded relief to employers that offer retiree health benefits.

To read more about the Bridge Years Health Coalition, click here.

I Am a Former Staffer of the President's and I Want Him To Fight Like He Promised Us

Mike Elk — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:00:42 -0700

I just joined thousands of others, including several hundred former staffers from the campaign, in signing a petition to President Obama, telling him that health care reform without a public option is not "change we can believe in."

As a staffer of the President's working as a community organizer in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in rural Western Pennsylvania, I fought hard for him during the campaign. I worked 16-17 hours a day with no days off for nearly four months working to get the President elected.

I worked in an overwhelmingly Republican area where there had never previously been a full time organizer. I organized over 250 volunteers into five autonomously run neighborhood teams that conducted aggressive door-to-door and over-the-phone voter contacts every day of the week. These were people who had never been involved in Democratic politics because their area was so overwhelming Republican, but they fought with everything they had because they believed in a President who promised to be a fighter against special interests.

There were people like Shelia Lane, a recently laid off single mother of three, who worked ten hours every day in the most mundane, inglorious of tasks making sure we elected a President who represented people like herself. There was 66-year old Wayne Hanson, an old time community organizer, who was recovering from a heart attack and would stay at the office till three in the morning making sure the plans for our massive Get Out The Vote operations were properly executed.

Their understanding of how important electing Barack Obama was led people like Harmony Grogan, from Texas, to quit her high high-paying job as an architect and drive all the way to Crawford County, Pennsylvania to volunteer full time, without pay, to work for change.

It was an incredible moment in American history, when people come together for a common purpose. Never in my life have I seen people open up and work towards a common cause as the good folks of Crawford County did. They endured countless hours of volunteering, vandalism of their properties, and in one instance a man with a shotgun threatening them. They lived in an overwhelmingly Republican area, which they had little chance of winning, but they fought hard anyhow because they wanted a President who would be a fighter against the special interests that had dominated.

On election night, the tears didn't stop streaming down my face -- we won 44% of the vote in our county (the most Democrats had in 50 years in that county) and won my home state of Pennsylvania. So many people had given so much and had fought so hard together because they believed in this man's capacity to stand up and fight for them.

I will never forget my experience of those few brief months as long as I live. I'll never forget what I learned: that we could beat any powerful interest in this country if we were just willing to fight hard enough for it.

Speaking at a party for former staffers, a day after he was inaugurated, President Obama called on his staffers to continue the fight they had fought during the campaign. (Watch the clip at around 2:30 -- I've watched it dozens of times and it has never ceased to inspire me!)

He said, "I promise you if everybody in this hall is willing to keep doing what you guys did over the last two years, then I am optimistic about America. I may make some mistakes, but you'll set me right."

Mr. President, we have not forgotten the promise we made that night. We are here to set you right.

There are rumors that you are considering dropping the public option, despite 77% of the American public and the majority of U.S. Senators supporting it. Sir, there is no way we can have real health care reform without a public option. Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition, bring down costs and serve the people.

If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry.

As Marshall Ganz and Peter Dreier, two of the leading visionaries of Obama's community organizing strategy pointed out in an op-ed this past weekend:

If the unholy alliance of insurance industry muscle, conservative Democrats' obfuscation and right-wing mob tactics is able to defeat Obama's health-care proposal, it will write the conservative playbook for blocking other key components of the president's agenda -- including action on climate change, immigration reform and updates to the nation's labor laws.

Mr. President, we are here to say that there is only one force in this country more powerful than the insurance industry and its corporate allies - us!

During the campaign, we defeated two of the strongest political machines ever assembled in the primary and the general election. We can beat these guys too.

We are ready to fight, sir. You are the most inspirational leader of our generation, sir, and we will follow to hell and back in this fight.

Therefore, I am asking my fellow campaign staffers, team leaders, and volunteers to sign this pledge promising to fight for the public option and urging President Obama to fight for it. Also, feel free to email me (at mikeelk@boldprogressives.org) if you are a former staffer and interested in ways you can help organize other staffers to help set the President right, as we promised him we would.

We are the most powerful grassroots army ever assembled in American history, and we want you to fight for a public option. We promise to fight with you every step of the way, just as we did during the campaign.

Mr. President, We are fired up and ready to go!

Are you ready to lead?

To Obama From A Dying Friend

Paul Loeb — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:20:54 -0700

My friend Robert Ellis Gordon is dying of lupus, with months left to live. He’s spent more than a decade teaching writing to prison inmates, written a terrific book called The Fun House Mirror from those experiences and crafted a rave-reviewed novel, When Bobby Kennedy was a Moving Man, on Kennedy being sent back to earth to determine whether he deserved Heaven or Hell.

I often quote something Robert said to a group of fellow prison teachers, which seems an apt metaphor for any effort at change: “Some of the people we work with will already have redeemed their lives. Others, no matter what we do, will be back in here again. And for some, our efforts will make all the difference. We will never know which group is which, but that should not serve as a deterrent to our efforts.”

Robert just wrote this open letter to Obama, challenging him to reach for his deepest levels of courage in being honest about what we face after decades of pillaging our economy. I’ll miss his wise voice.

Dear Mr. President:

I am one, among millions, who recently received an email regarding your health care plan. Mr. Plouffe’s email requested personal stories.

As a fifty-five year old man who has lived with a rare and serious illness since 1989, and who was recently referred to hospice, I am, I suppose, no less qualified than others to write about the challenges and unlooked-for blessings that accompany a fatal disease.

Upon reflection, however, I realized my story would be less compelling than others. For I come from a generous family. True, we were raised to make our way in the world and I started to work at age fourteen. Some forty years later, however, when it became evident that I could no longer hold down a job, my family cut back on their expenses so that my basic needs would be met. Hence I will not die, as thousands of my counterparts do, alone and anonymous in a hospital room or in the streets.

So? I deleted Mr. Plouffe’s email and returned to the task at hand. But deleted or not I was distracted by the email, so much so that I left the computer and took my dog for a walk. At the park, as I tossed the squeaky ball to Rose, I asked myself a question: if given the opportunity to write a letter to the President -- a letter in which illness and impending death served a larger agenda-- what would I say to him?

The answer was immediate and impassioned: “Please level with the people. Now.”

What do I mean by level? And why this sense of urgency?

The urgency stems from the peril I see in an unbalanced presentation of your economic scenario. I do not mean to suggest that you speak only of the most dire predictions. We need a substantive message of hope. It’s been a long forty years since we heard one. But authentic hope, as you know better than most, is founded upon truth. You had the courage to speak it throughout your campaign, and the magnitude of your victory revealed a public yearning to hear it.

In order to sustain the trust of the people, it is imperative that you continue to feed this yearning. That you do as you did in your speech on race: speak to us as adults. Speak even more deeply from the heart as well as the head. Above all, speak in the spirit of Judge Learned Hand: “The spirit of liberty is the spirit of not being too sure.”

So even as you speak words of hope and quell our fears with your steady presence, let us know that you proceed in the spirit of not being too sure because you cannot be; because no one can be; because a global economic meltdown is unprecedented in scope and nature.

Tell the people, as FDR did, in a style that is true to yourself, that there’s no panacea for this catastrophe. A catastrophe that was decades in the making and is not yet fully understood. And that your approach, therefore, must be a flexible one that allows for a sliding scale of eventualities, among which is the possibility—remote or not-- that this economic Katrina may outrace your best efforts to both remedy the cause and mitigate the effects.

What is to be gained by leveling with the people now? And what are the consequences if you do not do so?

Your most precious resource, Mr. President, is neither your brilliance nor the elegance with which you wield the language. Your most precious resource is your credibility.

The consequences of an unbalanced presentation, one that tilts too heavily toward the rosy?

No adverse consequences if that scenario unfolds.

But if worse continues to lead to worse as numerous economists predict, and you deny yourself political cover by not allowing for that eventuality?

Your popularity will prove thin and short-lived. You will lose your credibility. Quickly. And once relinquished, it can’t be restored.

Should you lose your credibility the people will, at the least, dismiss you as yet another president in a long line of presidents who opted to not be statesmen. As for your ability to summon our better angels? That remarkable gift will be squandered.

And that’s the best case scenario, Mr. President.

The worst?

If , in the absence of a credible President, tens of millions—millions who are ill-prepared for adversity—find themselves living in a state of deprivation and want? And if fear of the unknown starts feeding upon itself?

The people may, as they have in the past, turn to a leader who uses the energy of ignorance and fear to summon our darkest impulses. We don’t have to travel back to the Trail of Tears to recognize our capacity for looking the other way while our government pursues a policy of genocide.

We don’t have to travel back to the torture and murder of Emmett Till to recognize our capacity for denying the humanity of a child.

Joe McCarthy’s sheet of paper?

Ancient history.

A mere nine months ago John McCain chose a running mate who proved masterful at inciting fear and hatred of “the other.” And if worse continues to lead to worse in the absence of a credible president, the hatred we saw on the periphery of her crowds could move to the center and burst into flames that consume our better angels as they fan out.

On June 2nd the headline for the New York Times lead story ran beneath this headline: “Obama Is Upbeat For G.M. Future On A Day Of Pain.”

Upbeat on a day when the lives of 21,000 autoworkers and their families were shattered.

Upbeat on a day in which the closing of seven plants will translate into tens of thousands of shattered lives in other sectors of the auto industry.

Upbeat on a day when the Times ran an editorial devoted to yet a new wave of home foreclosures.

There’s a dissonance here, Mr. President. And even from the standpoint of political calculation— of the coldest Machiavellian calculation—this dissonance does not have to be. Last November the people rejected the politics of fear, rigidity, half-truths and lies, and embraced the politics of unity and truth. This was a tribute to our ability to discern and to the authentic nature of your message. A message of hope to be sure, but one that calls not for ease but sacrifice. And perhaps above all we came to appreciate a creative and compassionate vision that is tempered, at long last, by reality. Your vision represents the best and perhaps last hope for our children and for theirs.

You forged a bond with the people, Mr. President. But the glue hasn’t set and the glue will not set if you do not recalibrate your message.

The last and most important question: what is to be gained by leveling?

Perhaps the best way for me to address the positive, the potential for realizing your vision, is to circle back to Mr. Plouffe’s request, and speak to you in personal terms about the lessons of illness and impending death.

You may be familiar with this quote from the poet, Sylvia Plath. “If only you could see me forge my soul, fighting and fighting to forge my soul.”

Sylvia Plath succumbed to her despair, committed suicide in 1963. But her words still stand, maybe now more than ever, as tens of millions face the potential, at least, of entering the forging fire. And should that come to pass the people will look to you, just as the British looked to Churchill, for guidance, solace, and above all hope in the midst of their despair.

And where does my twenty-year dance with the fire fit into all of this? Where do you and I intersect? What have I learned that could possibly be of use to the President of the United States? What have I learned that might help this good man forge the soul of a nation?

Maybe something. Maybe nothing. But for what it’s worth I offer a glimpse of my journey and a couple of nuggets I’ve picked up along the way.

The first nugget?

That we forge our souls not for ourselves but in order to be better disciples of compassion.

And how does an obscure writer and former prison teacher make a contribution this late in the day with a timeline, in all likelihood, of months?

Below, an excerpt from a recent note to the doctor who saved my life on numerous occasions over the past two decades.

… Suffering may teach but it is not an end in and of itself. And when the pain abates, during windows of peace, I write.

I have a book to complete before I die. It is different from the others. I want to leave something behind that may serve as a source of solace to a reader here or there; a reader who wrestles with despair during this era of incomprehensible suffering.

All those high-risk infusions? The fatal infection you warn me about? And my choice to continue, to run the risk, in order to buy time to write?

Like any man I fear a painful death. But after receiving Extreme Unction on multiple occasions, I no longer fear death itself. What I fear is a life not well-lived. And the best way for me to do so during the time that remains is to complete that manuscript.

It’s just my body (not my soul) that is weary…

So that is my final task: to forge my soul on the page. I may die before I finish. Or I may risk all on the page and find that my skill is wanting; that the story implodes on itself. But if I fail in this task, I will do so in obscurity.

Because you sit where you sit, you don’t have that luxury.

What you do have is the opportunity and responsibility to explain how we got here and enumerate the full panoply of outcomes.

If the rosy scenario comes to pass? The people will know, by dint of your honesty, that you are neither above nor below but of them.

And if worse continues to lead to worse? If tens of millions find themselves living at the extremes of deprivation and want? And you’ve retained your credibility?

The dreams you’ve resurrected may still be realized. Realized in ways and to a degree that would be unlikely during less uncertain times.

You’ll be able to protect us, protect the children, from those who would prey upon fear and unleash violent thought, language and deed.

And as this economic Katrina continues to strengthen? As the people become increasingly aware that economic security is not a birthright? And are overwhelmed by a sense of vulnerability?

As the people walk through the fire together, the differences so artfully exploited by your predecessor will assume their proper perspective. And compassion may well fill the void. Shared adversity has a way of doing that.

And after the worst has passed, Mr. President? And the people, having been tempered by the fire, emerge stronger and more compassionate? Emerge with a visceral understanding of what it means to be dispossessed?

That, Mr. President, is when your vision may be realized. For the people who revealed a desire to serve at the outset of your candidacy, during times of relative prosperity, will still be here when the fire is extinguished. But the people will not be the same. They’ll be more able and willing to answer your call. And their progeny will learn through their example.

This is not to say that the fire is pleasant. At times it’s excruciating. I know that well. At times I want nothing more than to escape, and it is only faith that sustains me. Faith in God, yes, but also in man. Indeed, as I approach the River’s edge, the distinction between divinity without and divinity within seems merely to be one of choice. And a simple choice at that: towards violence or towards compassion.

This is your hour, Mr. President.

I, like you, am both a child of God and a member of the body politic. And as I ready myself to leave this bittersweet world, I want you to know that it affords me much peace to know that you are the President. A President who quietly rescued the Constitution. Who can forge the nation’s soul if the need arises. And who re-ignited the flame of hope and compassion months before the general election. A flame that was muted but not extinguished some forty years ago.

And this speaks to the most important lesson I’ve learned from my twenty-year dance with the fire. Certainly all people wish and deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion. But the human heart is bigger than that. We wish, as well, to experience our magnanimous natures, the divinity within. This is what Gandhi knew and tapped into. This is what my favorite saint knew: “It is in the giving that we receive.” And this, Mr. President, is what you know.

So. A dying man’s prayer for you and the nation: that the light that burns so brightly in you and your family will extend through generations. And if the children of the children choose to be their brothers and sisters’ keepers simply because they listen to their hearts; hearts that tell them they’re here to improve the lot of others?

Well, they may never know it was you who reminded their forbears of who they truly are. They may never even know your name.

But what of it?

If the words you spoke on election night come to fruition, they will not bring an end to suffering. But they will bring forth the better angels of which you speak; of which the last great candidate for president spoke.

And when I hear you summon our better angels forth, I hear echoes of the poet Robert Kennedy quoted on the darkest night of his brief campaign. And what greater legacy could he ask of you, and you, in turn, ask of us, than a renewed commitment to the age-old call to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world?

Sincerely,

Robert Ellis Gordon

Seattle, Washington

Robert Gordon is the author of When Bobby Kennedy Was a Moving Man and The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison. He’s written for Esquire, the Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Ploughshares, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and taught writing in Washington State prisons, juvenile institutions and inner-city high schools. He wrote Funhouse Mirror while undergoing chemotherapy, collaborating with six of his incarcerated students to let their voices be heard. The book won the 2000 Washington State Book Award. As one critic wrote of Bobby Kennedy, “Gordon’s vision is at once radical and healing. It teaches us a little about Heaven and a lot about Hell.” Robert can be reached at robertegordon@mac.com

Beyond Crisis Management: Obama's Next 1,361 Days

OurFuture.org Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:53:20 -0700

President Obama passed the first 100 day mark this week with generally positive, or at least patient, reviews from the media, which has focused largely on his decisive handling the country's economic crisis. By signing the $787 billion stimulus bill and adopting other initiatives to restore a floor to the falling housing market, Obama provided tangible relief to millions of Americans who have lost, or are at risk of losing their jobs or their homes. At a time when comparisons to the Great Depression have become all too frequent, there's a lot to be said for that sort of response.

But it's important to note that the Obama administration's economic policy to date has been one of economic crisis management and not one that will achieve the deep structural change needed to provide sustained support to the average working American, whose earning power and job security has been eroding for decades. To make good on his campaign mantra of change, Obama still needs to create the framework for a progressive economy that will help Americans enjoy the fruits of their labor and reverse a trend of economic cycles defined by asset accumulation bubbles that have rewarded powerful corporate interests at the expense of the average worker.

Click the logo for more views on President Obama's first 100 days and the road ahead.

A lot of lip service has been paid in recent months to that average worker, yet most American workers were losing ground long before the current recession, suffering reduced earnings power even during periods of rapid economic growth. In 2007, the tail end of a seven-year growth cycle, some 26.4 percent of all U.S. workers earned poverty-level wages. The real incomes of middle-class families were lower at the end of the latest business cycle than they were when it started in 2000. That marks the first time since the Census Bureau began tracking this data in the 1940s, that real earnings power declined over the course of a business cycle, and provides sobering evidence that prosperity is eluding most workers even during times of strong growth in productivity. The Obama Administration should be commended for moving swiftly and aggressively to end the current recession but now it needs to it also needs to take steps to ensure that all Americans will benefit from the recovery.

That will require a sweeping change in a 30-year-trend of deregulating markets, which has proven to help powerful corporate interests claim bigger slices of our national pie. There are also substantial and achievable policy changes that can be implemented with bold action from the President and Congress that will lead to a progressive economy. Contrary to our current economic system,which leaves many workers out of the growth equation, our approach is for growth that is sustainable and broadly shared. Our vision links workers' increased productivity with enhanced living standards while they are working as well as after they retire. It means strengthening the social safety net to keep people out of poverty when jobs are not available to all. To achieve this vision, we need and a vibrant economy characterized by innovation and growth.

Labor Policy

The architecture of a progressive economy is built on the foundation of policy that empowers workers to equitably share in the income gains they help produce. Laws supporting workers who choose to organize is an essential tool in this effort.

Unions provide workers with a number of clear advantages, including a premium in wages and benefits that are especially significant for minority workers. But they also benefit management. Job security for workers translates into reduced turnover, more predictable costs, and less employee volatility. An organized work force can leads to greater productivity as well as higher wages, a classic "win-win" scenario.

Jobs

In addition to seeking to regain the millions of jobs lost in during this recession, we must also use the tools and resources of government to promote job creation. The goal of stimulus act is to create 3.5 million jobs, but that is less than half of what is needed just to return to December 2007 levels of unemployment -- and those levels were already too high. The Obama administration should commit to a full employment strategy, and this will require substantial investment in a public jobs program. Lowering interest rates, the typical policy tool for creating jobs, has been rendered ineffective as they currently close to zero.

And yet, at a time that so many people who have jobs are living in poverty, creating more jobs is not in itself enough to truly build a progressive economy. Those jobs must allow workers to earn adequate wages. EPI proposes that as a minimum, wages be at least 50 percent of the hourly wage for private, non-supervisory workers--and provide benefits including access to health care. Industries built around energy efficiency and renewable energy provide a unique opportunity to add an engine to the economy that will sustain growth that can be broadly shared.

Retirement Security

Americans are coming to terms with the insecurity they face in retirement with a system that subjects them to so much market risk. The Obama administration should seek to capture revenue lost from 401(k) tax breaks and fund a public retirement system that, combined with equal contributions from employees and employers, goes a long way to ensuring Americans have adequate income in retirement.

Justice

A big component of any progressive agenda is justice. Government's responsibility is to make sure it distributes resources and opportunities fairly. Trillions have been loaned or leveraged to help failing financial institutions and soften the fall for their investors, yet ordinary folks have seen no comparable government intervention despite their staggering losses.

Next Steps

The Obama budget, passed by Congress to the tune about $3.5 billion, plans for investments in education, health care and energy, which are all necessary first stems in creating a progressive economic agenda. But much more work remains to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, trade policy that promotes domestic manufacturing and supports workers, and a public investment program that endures beyond the stimulus.

As part of a progressive economic agenda, Obama must ensure adequate revenues for necessary expansion in federal spending. In the near-term, that means spending what is required to soften the brunt of this long and deep recession. Longer term, it will require new tax policies such as imposing a financial transactions tax, a social security tax on higher incomes and maintaining the estate tax at least at current levels.

Reviewing the President's first 100 days can be a useful way of gauging his early accomplishments. But the passing grades he has earned so far in managing the crisis he inherited should not take away focus from his longer-term agenda. At a time of short news cycles and even shorter attention spans, it can be easy to forget that the economic contraction we are now experiencing was thirty years in the making. President Obama is only guaranteed only 1,361 more days. We've all got to get to work.

Christian Dorsey is acting communications director at the Economic Policy Institute.

Obama's Grade at 100? What About Our Grade?

Robert Borosage — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:01:40 -0700

Grading a president after 100 days always strikes me as presumptuous. The only real grade is an incomplete. And as good teachers will tell you, letter grades—as opposed to written evaluations—are inherently arbitrary and misleading.

One thing is clear. If we're grading on a curve, Barack Obama ranks near the top, just below FDR. In changing course, getting bold things done, setting a tone, lifting our spirits and confidence, we haven't seen anything like this since Roosevelt. Even Reagan, the great communicator, had a much harder time in his early days, starting with the limousine gridlock of his inaugural. He had to get shot to move his agenda.

Click the logo for more views on President Obama's first 100 days and the road ahead.

Rather than just grading the president, I suggest we might profitably assess our own 100 days. Obama has stormed the national and world stages in his first weeks. But how have we done—particularly the progressives who have such a large stake in the success of this president—in relation to Obama? He has demonstrated remarkable mastery of the powers of the presidency to lead the country. Have we mastered the power of the citizenry to empower the president?

There is sophisticated organizing being done in support of Obama's agenda. New organizations—most notably the 13-million person Obama for America—and old have joined together to mobilize citizens around the president's key initiatives. Major groups with large memberships—from unions to MoveOn, community and citizen action networks—have coordinated target lists, messaging and activities. Increasingly their attention is focused on herding Democrats, which will intensify as Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch jerseys makes Republicans even less relevant.

Similarly, on core issues—health care reform, new energy, college affordability, immigration, empowering workers—large independent efforts are underway. The unions and other progressive groups are taking on the corporate lobby over the Employee Free Choice Act. Health Care for America Now! leads a range of coalitions pushing health care reform. Environment and labor groups have been actively mobilizing around green jobs and new energy.

These independent efforts will help define the scope of the reforms, engage the public to support them, and strengthen the hand (or stiffen the spine) of Democrats in negotiations. Neither the public plan in health care nor cap and trade on carbon emissions will survive without popular mobilization.

For the most part, progressives have been happy to support and reluctant to question the popular president. So the fateful commitment of 60,000 troops to Afghanistan was made without much opposition, nothing like that Obama joined when it came to invading Iraq. Human rights advocates did push the administration to open up the shameful record on torture and are now demanding investigation and prosecution. Progressives helped convince the White House to shelve a proposed task force to "fix" Social Security, which would have been bad policy and bad politics. Progressive economists—Krugman, Stiglitz—and journalists—Greider, Kuttner and more—have challenged the administration's banking bailout, and pushed hard for a stronger recovery plan. The call for a full investigation of the mess—a Pecora Commission—has gained some momentum in both the Congress and the media.

But what Obama has been missing has been an independent, obstreperous citizens' movement demanding fundamental reform. Roosevelt had the labor movement, the Townsend Clubs, Huey Long, socialists and communists challenging him from the left. Johnson had the civil rights movement forcing his hand.

This kind of opposition isn't easy. No president likes to face disruption, particularly from what he would consider his base. There are similar stories told about both Roosevelt and Johnson meeting with leaders of the movements and saying something to the effect of, "I agree with you, now go out there and make me do it." But in reality, Roosevelt wanted to squelch Long and tame labor. And Johnson repeatedly ordered Hubert Humphrey to bring the civil rights demonstrations to an end, saying that they weren't helping the cause. King got a lot of pressure —to say nothing of wiretaps and FBI investigations—to get back in step.

Yet it is precisely these movements—independent, disruptive, passionate, demanding bolder reform, taking on entrenched powerful interests—that enabled Roosevelt and Johnson to achieve far more than they ever thought possible. The New Deal we remember—Social Security, the Wagner Act, Fair Labor Standards, the SEC and Glass Stegall, progressive taxation—came not in the first 100 days, but as Roosevelt, under pressure from his left, geared up for re-election. The Voting Rights Act surely would not have been passed without Selma and many other sacrifices transforming public opinion to enable Johnson to act.

The absence of these movements on the left opens dangerous space for ersatz populist movements on the right. We saw that with the tea-bag parties that the Fox News Channel huckstered. We've seen conservatives conflate the trillions going to bolster the banks with vital spending in the recovery plan to get the economy going. They are weaving a corrosive message that ties big spending in Washington with Wall Street wastrels. The country would be far better served with an angry populist movement that indicts Wall Street but demands greater support for working families and Main Street. But anyone building that movement will have to understand that they might earn respect, but they won't be loved in the White House.

For citizens, as with Obama, 100 days is too early to judge. In these first weeks, we've done a good job of organizing to support key elements of the president's agenda. But we've seen little evidence of a progressive movement that can challenge the limits of that agenda, and rouse an aggrieved citizenry to open up the space for the president to act far more boldly.

Grades for the first 100 days? The president, I'd say, is doing a lot better than we, his supporters, are.

Obama's South of the Border Reading (and watching) List

Zach Roberts — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:12:15 -0700

Obama's crew needs to catch up on 10 years of Latin American history - here's a reccommended start.

This past weekend Presidents Chavez and Obama met for the first time in seemingly nothing more than a glorified photo-op but it was an important one all the same.original

After nearly 10 years of being of being in power – Chavez has never met with an US president for that matter neither has many of the current heads of state in Latin America. Democratically elected presidents Correa and Morales haven’t met with anyone high up either.

In fact other than the drug war our last president rarely looked to the south and based on the advisors Obama has chosen for the Summit not much is going to change.

From Greg Grandin’s excellent piece in Tom’s Dispatch:

“He has kept on George W. Bush’s Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Thomas Shannon and has picked Jeffrey Davidow to be his special advisor at the summit.

A career diplomat, Davidow’s foreign service has been largely unremarkable, though his first posting was to Guatemala in the early 1970s when U.S.-backed death squads were running wild, and was followed by an assignment as a junior political officer in Chile, where he observed the 1973 U.S.-backed military coup that overthrew elected President Salvador Allende. Committed to the Clinton-era mantra of economic liberalization, these diplomats will never recommend the kind of game-changing ideas Gruening did.”

President Obama can be only as good as his information – two men from the Bush and Reagan presidencies can’t be a good sign – and his time in Chicago couldn’t have helped any. The ‘boys’ from the University of Chicago are famous for using Latin America as a playground for their financial experiments.

Chavez, famous for recommending book(link http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/books/23chomsky.html) (and getting those books to sell out on Amazon) has handed Obama a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s book “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” – a book the president should read, but sadly Galeano’s book’s latest edition is 1997. There’s been a lot of change south of the border since then – Latin America has had a obamachavezrebirth of Democracy – one that happened despite what the United States wanted.

Outside of Cuba the rest of the continent has not only elected leaders in fair democratic processes but elected ones that spoke to the will of the masses – something that Obama should take note of. The faces of those that voted for Obama on election day Nov. 4th looked very similar to the ones that voted for Correa, Chavez, Morales and Ortega.

To get the President and his staff up to speed on what has happened in this part of the global south over the past 10 years I’ve put together this very incomplete crash course – with recommendations from Greg Grandin, VenezuelaAnalysis.com’s Gregory Wilpert and my own favorites- please comment with the one’s that you recommend.

Personal rec’s
-BOOK – Empire’s Workshop by Greg Grandin
-BOOK – Changing Venezuela by Taking Power by Gregory Wilpert
-DVD – The Assassination of Hugo Chavez and Palast Investigates: Rumble in the Jungle
-DVD – The Revolution will not be Televised
-BOOK – The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
-DVD -The Take
-Subscription to NACLA (http://www.nacla.org)
-BOOK – Colombia and the United States : War, Unrest, and Destabilization by Mario A. Murillo

From Gregory Grandin, author of Empire’s Workshop
“William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (being re-released for its 50th anniversary). It was published a month after the Cuban Revolution, and it reads like a script for the US-produced horror movie that followed — in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Beyond that, I’d recommend Noam Chomsky’s Turning the Tide; Walter LaFeber’s Inevitable Revolutions

From Gregory Wilpert of VenezuelaAnalysis.com and author of Changing Venezuela by Taking Power
“Hopes and Prospects” which focuses on Latin America.

“Interventions” , which has a couple of essays on Latin America.”

What A Difference Ten Days Make

Isaiah J. Poole — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:10:43 -0800

Consider how far we've come since January 20.

On Thursday, the Senate followed the House in passing a reauthorization of a child health insurance bill that will mean 4 million more children will have access to health insurance. When the Congress passed similar legislation last year, then-President Bush vetoed the legislation—twice. This time, President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law next week.

Increasing the number of working-class families who have health insurance for their children is just one of the significant victories progressives can lay claim to in just the first 10 days of the Obama administration.

Struggles over the the administration's economic recovery package, and the brutal snubbing Obama received from House Republicans in spite of what most progressives think were ill-advised compromises, have threatened to overshadow the sea-change that is unfolding inside the Beltway. It's wrong to let that happen. Instead, the change should be celebrated, defended and established as a foundation for the bolder policy steps that this administration must take in the days ahead.

The positives so far are sweeping:

An executive order that commits the United States to closing the international shame that is Guantanamo Bay, and that will finally mean that Guantanamo detainees will receive legal due process—and that the United States has returned to respecting the rule of law.
An executive order, and a clear statement from Obama's attorney general-designate Eric Holder, that reject the Bush administration's policy on torture.
Repeal of the Bush administration order that banned funding to international family planning organizations that supported legal abortions, which means that vital women's health services to poor countries will begin flowing again.
President Obama's signing on Thursday of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which will finally allow victims of wage discrimination a fair chance in the courts to get the justice due them. Ledbetter, who lost a conservative Supreme Court ruling that she could not pursue a wage discrimination claim because of an impractical statute of limitations, was able to witness the White House signing.
A memorandum that allows California and several other states to impose tough auto-emissions standards, a move that a New York Times analysis suggests is the first step in a relationship with state governments of "progressive federalism."
Obama's interview with the Al-Arabiya television network, in which he pledged a relationship of mutual respect with the Arab world, backed with the reminder that he has direct Muslim familial ties. The interview has immediately opened possibilities for diplomatic progress with the Arab world on a host of issues.
Obama's visit to the Pentagon this week to make clear his intention to follow through on his campaign promise of a safe and responsible withdrawal from Iraq and a refocusing of resources on repairing the Bush administration's disastrous handling of the fight against al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

Then there is the economic recovery bill that dominated the news this week, a bill that my colleague Bernie Horn calls "the biggest and boldest progressive legislation in 40 years," even with its concessions to business interests and conservative whiners. This bill makes a significant down payment toward addressing both the short- and long-term challenges of rebuilding the economy and assuring that prosperity is more broadly spread than it was under President Bush.

Yes, Obama administration proposals have had to be nudged in a more progressive direction by allies in Congress and by activist groups, and that will continue to be the case. But let's also appreciate how much change is already beginning to happen. Conservatives are certainly noticing, and if we are not careful to guard and build upon the victories that we are winning, it will not take long for us to be dragged back into much darker times.

Obama's Summons

Robert Borosage — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:26:20 -0800

"A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

It was not the words, but this transcendent reality that evoked the tears at Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday. The somber eloquence of the new president, the presence of over a million people celebrating what they had done, the grace of Michele and Barack together, the infectious delight of their daughters, the relief felt in the long overdue departure of Bush and Cheney—all were overshadowed by the historic reality of Americans electing the first African-American president to lead them in this time of trouble. We see one another and the world sees America with new eyes as a result.

But Obama's speech should not be lost in that moment. Major presidential addresses are signposts, markers of an administration's priorities and perspectives. Each phrase is contested; what is said and unsaid have meaning. Political allies, aides and adversaries parse the text to claim mandates or define battles. This will be particularly true for Obama, a gifted writer who takes words seriously.

Most analysis focused on the president's somber warnings of "gathering clouds and raging storms," two wars and a weakened economy. Conservatives took solace in his embrace of moral virtues, and martial rhetoric that "our nation is at war," and promise to "defeat" our enemies. Others noted his call to service, a stark contrast to President Bush's summons to the nation to "go shopping" after September 11.

But this distorts Obama's message. The core of the speech was structured around a pointed critique of the "failed dogmas" of the last 30 years of conservative misrule, a sharp rebuke of the policies of his predecessor sitting nearby on the stage, and a summons to a new and bold era of progressive activism.

At home and abroad, the new president claimed a mandate for a dramatic change of course. Domestically, he dismissed the centerpiece of modern conservatism: its scorn for government and worship of markets. "The question... is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works..." We know that the market has "the power to generate wealth," but surely we have learned once more that "without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control."

But he did not stop there. The test for a government that works is "whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified." This comes as close to the Franklin Roosevelt's call for an Economic Bill of Rights that we've heard since FDR issued that promise in 1944.

And the measure of markets is not simply a larger GDP or growth, but benefits that are widely shared. "The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy" depends on "the reach of our prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart, not out of charity, but because it is surest route to our common good."

From these principles, Obama outlined his priorities. His recovery plan will be grounded on public investment in areas vital to our future—from bridges to electric grids. He'll return science to its proper place, a slap at Bush's ideological assault on science. He'll launch a concerted drive for new energy—to "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories" so we can reduce a dependence on oil that serves only to "strengthen our enemies and threaten our planet." And finally, he pledges a transformation of "our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of the new age."

As to national security, Obama begins by rejecting the "false choice between our safety and our ideals," dismissing Bush's use of September 11 to trample our constitution. He discards the bellicose unilateralism of the Bush neoconservatives, evoking earlier generations that knew "our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. ... Our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, and tempering qualities of humility and restraint." He paints an America "ready to lead again" by rejoining the world, with a new respect for "sturdy alliances and enduring convictions."

From these principles, he lays out his priorities. First, he will "responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan," somewhat reassuring phrasing for those of us worried that the dispatch of more troops to Afghanistan could trap us in a costly occupation. He places priority on reducing the nuclear threat, and rolling back "the specter of a warming planet."

Then after pledging the defeat of those who seek to terrorize us, he moves once more to seeking a "new era of peace," beginning with offering the Muslim world a new way forward, based on "mutual interest and mutual respect," watchwords for the Iranian leaders, among others. Rather than Bush's pledge to spread democracy at the end of a smart bomb, Obama offers to extend a hand to those "who cling to power through corruption and dissent and the silencing of dissent" if "you are willing to unclench your fist."

Also significant is what was left on the cutting room floor. There was no mention of raising the military budget, or reforming the military to expand its expeditionary forces. There was nothing about cutting back Social Security, Medicare or other parts of our social contract, the "grand bargain" that conservatives in both parties have been pushing for. Progressives looked in vain for words on reforming our unsustainable global economic posture, and the need to move from creating global markets for investors and multinationals to regulating them for the rest of us. Items marked urgent in his inbox—restructuring a banking system once more on the verge of collapse, and providing mortgage relief to millions facing foreclosure—received only the most oblique reference.

Events transform intention, as George Bush discovered when the collapse of Bear Sterns threatened to bring down the global economy. Movements force change that might otherwise never take place. No one speech defines the future. The fight over priorities and presidential attention has only begun.

But Obama used this speech to raise the bar. While the president understands how far we have come with the fact of his election, this journey is only beginning. He calls Americans to a new age of responsibility, a new commitment to service, to put aside petty and partisan politics to address the stark challenges we face.

But his "post-partisan politics" is not about moving to the center, finding the least common denominator, and splitting the difference. In his inaugural address, the new president boldly summoned us to construct a new era of reform on the ashes of the failed conservative policies of the last three decades, with its foundations grounded on a progressive belief in activist government, regulated markets and shared prosperity at home, and a foreign policy that reflects our values. Each of us is called to "pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America." It is a challenge that we cannot afford to ignore.

This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post.

A New Day for America, But Not for Immigrants?

Dennis Chin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:07:46 -0800

There’s a buzz in the air in Washington, DC.

The inaugural ceremony is over and I can still feel the energy of millions of folks from across the country walking the streets, filled with the excitement of what’s to come in the next four years.

Hope’s in the air and I’m starting to feel it too.

President Obama ran on a promise of change that reminded us of the power of everyday people working together towards a better future. He tapped into the nation’s hopes and dreams to help us imagine a nation free of the last 8 year’s policies of division and fear.

This moment marks a new day for America. But I wonder if this moment rings true for everybody.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once talked about the Four Freedoms that all humans around the world should enjoy. One of these freedoms is freedom from fear. If we are to value his words and the message of hope and community that President Obama espoused during his Presidential campaign, then perhaps it’s time for us to take a deep look at the state of immigration in this nation.

For many of immigrants, the last 8 years have been marked by scapegoating, hate, and fear. I remember hearing stories of immigrant mothers sending their children to school with emergency information in case they were caught by ICE authorities and deported. I read countless stories of immigrant workers that were exploited by their employers. I remember the stories of immigrant detainees that were allowed to die in imprisonment.

Immigrant communities have always been a part of our nation. And they have played a large part in Obama’s path to the presidency. If Obama is to realize the promise of hope and change in this country and if he is to fight for the right for all communities to live free from fear, then let's call on him to work to transform our immigration system so that workers don’t fear raids, families stay together, and no one lives in the shadows.

Tomorrow morning, on January 21st, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a project of the Center for Community Change, will be hosting a day of action to celebrate A New Day For America and a new hope for immigration reform. We are asking President Obama to fix our country’s broken immigration system with a moratorium on the raids and comprehensive immigration reform. I encourage you to join me in this march.

Visit http://www.anewdayforimmigration.org for more information.

Leaders and Experts Agree that a Public Insurance Option is Critical to the Success of Obama’s Health Reform Proposals

Alex Lawson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:53:24 -0800