Who's Right? Obama or the 'Base'?

[L. Coyote]

Who's Right? Obama or the 'Base'?
By Robert Parry
December 8, 2010
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/120810.html


When President Barack Obama lashed out at the liberal base of the Democratic Party – condemning many on the Left as “sanctimonious” purists – he underscored how profoundly his actions have alienated some of his past supporters and how little he understands why.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Obama compared the current liberal furor over his tax-cut deal with Republicans to the fury on the Left over his abandonment of the “public option” in health-care reform. But the latest anger among progressives reflects more than that; it is a cumulative disgust.

What the Left sees is a politician who ran on a platform of “change” – who cited Martin Luther King’s “fierce urgency of now” phrase – but then blinked at reversing disastrous policies of his recent predecessors. Instead, Obama offered more “continuity,” a change of heart that was pleasing to an entrenched Washington/Wall Street Establishment.

Though the cave-in on extending George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich may have exposed the growing void in Obama’s support among progressives, the hollowing out of his base has been underway since shortly after his election.

Despite promises to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and to respect the rule of law, Obama soon began moon-walking those commitments. He ducked a fight with Congress over Guantanamo and found excuses not to enforce U.S. and international laws regarding torture and other war crimes.

........ http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/120810.html

[stray cat]

1. Neither - the problem is larger than either's solution or debate

and the tax system needs a total overhaul which if done properly will cost some Lawyers jobs and get rid of most of the IRS

[niceypoo]

2. Vote republican then

Because everything you ask for is a GOP talking point

[stubtoe]

3. He's got bigger fish yet to fry - Health Care Reform.

The Repubs are going to go after that with all they've got. It's going to get ugly, and make this tax spat look like a fart in a windstorm.

[bigdarryl]

4. theres no such thinbg as THE BASE it's a myth

[Phx_Dem]

5. Obama. And the whiners are not "the base."