Five Concerns

Last time, I referred to Andrew Sullivan's Newsweek piece about “How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics.” I hope Sullivan is correct because Obama’s opponents will clearly usher in a new dark age if elected. But that doesn’t mean the President has been perfect during his first term. Today, in fact, with Sullivan’s help, I’d like to mention five main concerns I have with our nation’s first African American president.

In my view, to date the President has:

--Been far too moderate, reacting to rabid Republican assaults with (1) lofty appeals to unity and compromise or (2) giving away the store by attempting to reach a Grand Bargain on entitlement and other reforms.

--Continued Bush foreign policy by waging wars based on executive power opposed by civil libertarians. Escalated the Afghan War, while not completely ending the one in Iraq.

--Continued Bush policy in civil liberties by keeping our Guantanamo gulag open, supporting the Patriot Act, and signing The Defense Authorization Act into law (it approves the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without trial--see The Active Voice, Feb. 5).

--Been a captive of Wall Street and responded too passively to recklessness by major U.S. banks while not pushing successfully for a WPA-type bailout for workers.

I say all this despite my disgust and fury with his opponents, who have disrespected President Obama in ways unimaginable with a white man in the Oval Office. I pray to God (if there is one, and he’s not a Calvinist) that Obama is re-elected so the United States does not plunge into a right-wing nightmare.

In future posts, I’ll take up some of the president’s achievements and successes during his 1^st term in office.