Why Progressives Need to Support Obama

I can already imagine the onslaught of criticism: Obama is no different than Bush. Obama has buckled under even the slightest pressure from the right. Just look at the case of civilian trials for terror suspects. Just look at his administration’s unwillingness to prosecute Bush-era officials. Just look at his failure to close Guantanamo Bay.

His efforts to appease the Republicans has weakened his agenda. He has not addressed comprehensive immigration reform. He abandoned the progressive agenda long before they ever abandoned him. Where’s the public option?

The French writer Voltaire made this observation, nearly three hundred years ago: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Today, as progressives lull and the right mobilizes, as Congressional district after Congressional district changes from blue to red, as Democrats retire, as Liz and Dick Cheney and Karl Rove emerge to remake history without any substantial dissent, I think it’s time for liberals and progressives to heed that advice.

We progressives are too busy tearing down the Democratic party, in essence conducting our own unofficial “purity test”—the same thing Republicans have been admonished for doing.

TalkLeft printed this argument about health care reform:

“In terms of progressive activists, it is clear that they have been completely rolled in this process and were given absolutely nothing. The good parts of the bill (Medicaid expansion, theoretically, the better regulations, though I have no confidence in the enforcement mechanisms) were not controversial and should not be seen as concessions to progressives. Indeed, I expect they would be passed separately if the Senate bill fails. In short, progressives got nothing in the political bargaining.

In my view, they should not lift a finger to get these bills passed. If progressives ever want to wield even a smidgen of influence, they have to be prepared to sit on the sidelines if they do not get what they want. Let the winners in this bill do the work for getting it passed. It’s their bill after all. Not progressives.”

Is this really the stance we want to take— essentially no stance at all? If we cannot define the game are we willing to simply refuse to play? But more importantly, are we willing to deal with the consequences? And there are very real consequences here…eight years of Bush should have taught us that much.

The right wins by disenfranchising and fractionalizing the left, pitting progressives against moderate Democrats, by shaping an argument based on division as opposed to their own morale and fiscally corrupt policies. At present, we appear to be allowing them to do just that.

And why? Because Obama is not perfect and has been behaving like a politician. Well surprise, surprise. He is a politician. Just like Clinton was a politician. With one exception, his policies are actually more progressive than Clinton.

This is not about partisanship loyalties but about political realities. We know what happens when we are governed by an emboldened right. Just think back to 2000 and 2004, where more than a dozen states passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. It was the wedge issue of the day that mobilized the base and led to broad Republican majorities in state legislatures around the country. Those majorities led to such atrocities as Oklahoma’s ridiculously harsh immigration enforcement bill or Utah’s ongoing effort to illegalize miscarriages. Think about the multiple Bush tax cuts. Think about abstinence-only sex education. Think about conservative judicial appointments. Think about the U.S. Patriot Act. Think about the war in Iraq. Think about the “Contract with America.”

Also think about this: In health care reform, it’s the beginning we are trying to get to, not the end. Once it passes, we can always make it better. If it fails, it will fail forever. Believe that.

There is strength in a unified voice but also worth in reasoned dissent. We shouldn’t play into the right’s game on the margins. We should be able to debate the issues without demonizing and dismissing Congressional Democrats as well as this administration because of their obvious imperfections.

Voicing criticism of this administration is one thing, but taking self-defeating stances is quite another. Are there really any progressives out there who honestly believe there is no difference between this administration and the Bush administration? Are there really progressives out there who believe an imperfect health care reform is no better than none at all? Are there any progressives out there who honestly believe we’d be anywhere near financial reform if it weren’t for the Democratic majority? Are there any progressives out there so stubborn as to turn the reigns back over to the Republicans?

Obama is not perfect, neither is Nancy Pelosi. Our foreign policy leaves a lot to be desired. This incremental approach to change leaves a lot to be desired. But this president is the closest we’ve come to having a progressive in the White House in modern history. If progressives abandon the Democrats, the consequence will be a return to Republican rule.

Can America really survive another eight years of Bush, or worse Palin?

See the story here.