Naomi Klein: A Lexicon of Disappointment: the Nation:

[amborin]

"All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence during Israel's Gaza attack.


Whatever the last straw, a growing number of Obama enthusiasts are starting to entertain the possibility that their man is not, in fact, going to save the world if we all just hope really hard.

This is a good thing. If the superfan culture that brought Obama to power is going to transform itself into an independent political movement, one fierce enough to produce programs capable of meeting the current crises, we are all going to have to stop hoping and start demanding.

snip

...Hope was a fine slogan when rooting for a long-shot presidential candidate. But as a posture toward the president of the most powerful nation on earth, it is dangerously deferential. The task as we move forward (as Obama likes to say) is not to abandon hope but to find more appropriate homes for it--in the factories, neighborhoods and schools where tactics like sit-ins, squats and occupations are seeing a resurgence.

Political scientist Sam Gindin wrote recently that the labor movement can do more than protect the status quo. It can demand, for instance, that shuttered auto plants be converted into green-future factories, capable of producing mass-transit vehicles and technology for a renewable energy system. "Being realistic means taking hope out of speeches," he wrote, "and putting it in the hands of workers."

snip

<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090504/klein?rel=hp_currently>

[rockymountaindem]

1. I personally never thought Obama could/would "save the world"

I'd be happy if he could return us to the kind of normalcy I grew up with during the 90s (when things seemed peaceful and sane... like when I was 10). Once we get to the point where we're not stumbling from crisis to Bushian embarrassment and back all the time, then I'll start thinking about saving the world. For now, at least Obama's first term, the old status quo will suffice for me.

[eridani]

19. The 90s weren't "normal"

They were just another bubble--the tech bubble. When it burst, the Bushies immediately started inflating the one that just burst last year.

Get with reality, people! Average family incomes have been dropping since 1973, and you can't sustain a consumer economy if people don't have discretionary income. Substituting debt for good jobs doesn't work, as we are now finding out. That people remember the 90s as good is sort of sick--like celebrating the good feeling you get when you stop getting hit in the head with a hammer. The slowdown and slight reversal of the impoverishment of average people is only good compared to the disasters before and after.

[mix]

2. "Stop hoping and start demanding"

I like the sound of that. Sound advice in a democracy that needs to be saved from apathy and adulation.

[FrenchieCat]

4. Perhaps no one noticed, but that is exactly what happened since

before he took office. Folks haven't stopped demanding yet! This is the most "what have you done for me lately?" presidency I have ever witnessed.

[HopeOverFear]

10. It's like Bishop Robinson said

"we're expecting way too much of this one"

[mix]

21. So lower expectations, keep quiet and trust our leaders?

That's not my style of politics.

Glad you had second thoughts about putting me on ignore!

[MarjorieG]

9. Easy for Naomi from the cheap seats, not responsible for results.

And I like Klein, but she's a critic. That's her job, but we need fewer critics arguing for nirvana.

[mix]

20. Nirvana

You should focus your energies on the unreasonable critics of Obama, not on good faith critics like Klein and the people who agree with her.

Too often Obama's greatest "defenders" mistake normal democratic engagement for bad faith attacks.

No one is asking for nirvana, unless you can show otherwise, just principled leadership and sound policies during a time of crisis.

[democracy1st]

3. K & R

[Occam Bandage]

5. Polling shows liberals strongly behind him in the same numbers they always have.

Looks like Klein's playing the Fox News "some say" game: if you pretend other people believe it, maybe they actually will.

[amborin]

6. maybe she's simply been lurking here and reading some nasty threads

[DrToast]

8. Just in case. Hi Naomi!

*

[DrToast]

7. Seriously, I see no basis for her claims...

It's not like there isn't objective data she can refer to (polls!).

[Political Heretic]

11. Same polls show overwhelming, near total support for Obama here on DU.

That's because CRITICIZING POLICY does not mean you don't support the President.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Klein's claim isn't that "some liberals are CRITICIZING POLICY," but rather

that they are disillusioned, disappointed, angry, change of mood, etc., etc. That's demonstrably false.

[Political Heretic]

13. Demonstratably? Really?

I'd argue her piece is weak because its entirely anecdotal and can't be demonstrated either way.

[Occam Bandage]

15. Yes.

Unless you are willing to make the claim that widespread disappointment and anger within a group at a politician have absolutely no statistically significant bearing on his level of support among that group. Do you really think that a politician loved and admired by 90% of the people is likely to have the same job and personal approval ratings as a politician reviled by 90% of the people?

If not, then it would suggest that any movement in the emotional response to a politician would result in a movement in his support level. Since Obama's support level among liberals has not changed since he was sworn in, I think Klein's case of a souring of emotion is demonstrably false under the assumption that there exists an emotional component to approval.

[Political Heretic]

16. I would make that claim, yes.

The left isn't going to flip out and say they disapprove of Obama in a poll, because they don't see their criticism as incompatible with supporting the president. But that doesn't make them "happy."

Take DU for example. A lot of complaints here. But if you put up a poll - approve or disapprove of the president, you're going to get overwhelming response for "approve."

TO REALLY measure you'd need a likert scale .... SD D N A SD 1-5

[Occam Bandage]

17. And, again, Naomi Klein is not simply talking about "criticism,"

and I am not talking about her references to criticism. You seem to have confused this issue with the ongoing DU metanarrative about appropriate support for the Democratic President.

[truedelphi]

18. Ah-h. Thanks. A bit of fresh air.

How right you are.

[PBS Poll-435]

14. Shock my nutz, Naomi.

I kid, I kid.