Herbert: "There has been no (needed) radical change, only caution and timidity and more of the same"

[brentspeak]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/opinion/22herbert.html?src=me&ref=general

When Greatness Slips Away

By BOB HERBERT
Published: June 21, 2010

snip

The collapse of the economy in the Great Recession gave us the starkest, most painful evidence imaginable of the failure of laissez-faire economics and the destructive force of the alliance of big business and government against the interests of ordinary Americans. Radical change was called for. (One thinks of Franklin Roosevelt raging against the “economic royalists” and asserting that “we need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer.”)

But there has been no radical change, only caution and timidity and more of the same. The royalists remain triumphant and working people are absorbing blow after devastating blow. More than 1.2 million of the long-term jobless are due to lose their unemployment benefits this month.

The oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, as horrible as it has been, was yet another opportunity. In his address to the nation from the Oval Office last week, President Obama could have laid out a dramatic new energy policy for the U.S., calling on every American to do his or her part to help us escape the insidious, nonstop destruction that is the result of our obsessive reliance on fossil fuels.

He chose not to.

[villager]

1. Ostrich-y unrec already commenced, I see...

n/t

[Tesha]

14. Well if we don't let this get to the 'Greatest" page, then no one will ever know...

...about this column from The New York Times.

Tesha

[villager]

15. Somehow, I doubt the unreccers are motivated by reining in publicity for the Times...

n/t

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

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[treestar]

19. Or maybe people just disagree with you?

[niceypoo]

33. Nobody actually disagrees on DU

We are instead motivated by drama and tit for tat

[impik]

2. Only two more years. Hang in there.

[katandmoon]

3. K&R

[ProSense]

4. Is Herbert going to write an analysis of the President's plan to end homelessness in 10 years?

Details.

Herbert previously tried to lay the plight of America's homeless at the feet of the President, will he now address the plan?

How does he know greatness has slipped away? Does he have a crystal ball?

[Tesha]

8. He knows greatness slipped away because he lives in reality.

(A stark place not inhabited by all-that-many DUers.)

Tesha

[ima_sinnic]

12. +! !

:thumbsup:

[ProSense]

20. No, he lives in the pages of the NY Times.

In reality, no one is sitting back saying to themselves: Gee, I thought President Obama would have delivered greatness by now.

What most people know is that the President enacted health care reform, something no other President has been able to do. Does it constitute greatness, we'll see. Still, this article is at best ridiculously premature given that the president is only about a third of the way through his first term. So we'll see.

Until then, Herbert is simply spewing hyperbole.

[Tesha]

23. Actually I don't know that Obama enacted "health care reform". He did hand a great boon to...

...the HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES, though, so I guess they got
what they paid for.

We, on the other hand...

Tesha

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

30. Tell that to the millions including my brother who will now be able to afford health insurance.

I'm guessing you already have pretty good insurance.

[Tesha]

31. You'd be guessing wrong; alll we have is expensive COBRA from Mr. Tesha's previous job. (NT)

[Milo_Bloom]

32. Affording HEALTH INSURANCE and having HEALTH CARE

are 2 completely different things.

There has been no health care reform in this country.

[niceypoo]

35. What the insurance companies are doing is jacking up premiums while stripping benefits

It's called price gouging and the bill does nothing to stop it. You cant maximize profits and services at the same time, it's one or the other. Until this is fixed the 'reform' is an illusion.

[niceypoo]

34. He enacted insurance reform

...which needs to be, 'fixed,' sometime in the future.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[ProSense]

27. Really?

But there has been no radical change, only caution and timidity and more of the same. The royalists remain triumphant and working people are absorbing blow after devastating blow. More than 1.2 million of the long-term jobless are due to lose their unemployment benefits this month.

The oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, as horrible as it has been, was yet another opportunity. In his address to the nation from the Oval Office last week, President Obama could have laid out a dramatic new energy policy for the U.S., calling on every American to do his or her part to help us escape the insidious, nonstop destruction that is the result of our obsessive reliance on fossil fuels.

This is typical Herbert, couching criticism of the President in a grandiose commentary that explores why Obama isn't FDR.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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[Peregrine Took]

5. Brilliant article. I love Bob Herbert. n/t

[volvoblue]

6. more beltway Heathers insider mindsets. they all have to put thier foot in

[polichick]

7. Sad, but imo true - k&r

[saracat]

9. Brilliant. I love Herbert.

[Nite Owl]

10. A good article

sort makes me want to cry though. We are on such a downward path and no one in charge wants to stop it, no one wants to listen to anyone who wants change.
We need a leader who will really lead and not be fearful.

[Waiting For Everyman]

11. The refusal to "lay blame" = denial.

We aren't even admitting the multi-sided catastrophe we're in, much less backing away from the edge of the cliff to more of them, much less turning around and moving in the opposite direction away from them yet.

Any fool can predict what we'll get next, from denial and more of the same. But do we face that? NO!!! Hell, no! Anything but that.

An excellent article. All attempts, like this article, to wake us up are a good thing.

[WeDidIt]

13. Hyperbolic n/t

[Uzybone]

16. Thanks Bob. Some solutions would also be nice.

[depakid]

22. The solutions have been obvious on issue after issue

Trouble is, there hasn't been much of any fight for them.

[brentspeak]

26. His past columns have gone into detail concerning solutions:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/bobherbert/index.html?inline=nyt-per

[tranche]

18. Some of these guys are expecting to live history. There are no historical events.

Until long after they have been done and only after we've come to recognize just what they are.

[Kltpzyxm]

21. No Wall St bonus

left behind.

[amborin]

24. K&R

[Hawkowl]

29. Obama may be brilliant

But he certainly doesn't have the cajones for greatness. He doesn't have the courage to stand up to evil, because apparently evil is simply a different perspective--just a darker shade of gray.