New Tasks of the
Left Following
Obama’s Victory

By Carl Davidson
Progressives for Obama

American progressives have won a major victory in helping to defeat John McCain and placing Barack Obama in the White House. The far right has been broadly rebuffed, the neoconservative war hawks displaced, and the diehard advocates of neoliberal political economy are in thorough disarray. Of great importance, one long-standing crown jewel of white supremacy, the whites-only sign on the Oval Office, has been tossed into the dustbin of history.

The depth of the historical victory was revealed in the jubilation of millions who spontaneously gathered in downtowns and public spaces across the country, as the media networks called Obama the winner. When President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama took the platform in Chicago to deliver his powerful but sobering victory speech, hundreds of millions-Black, Latino, Asian, Native-American and white, men and women, young and old, literally danced in the streets and wept with joy, celebrating an achievement of a dramatic milestone in a 400-year struggle, and anticipating a new period of hope and possibility.

Now a new period of struggle begins, but on a higher plane. An emerging progressive majority will be confronted with many challenges and obstacles not seen for decades. Left and progressive organizers face difficult, uncharted terrain, a bumpy road. But much more interesting problems are before us, with solutions, should they be achieved, promising much greater gains and rewards. for the America of popular democracy.

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Tags: Carl Davidson, Hegemonic Blocs, Pushing Obama

Photo: A Cover That Should Have Been

Defining The
‘Real America’

By Robert Creamer
Huffington Post

Sarah Palin is right about one thing: this election is in fact a battle between the “real America” and a pretender.

But it’s not quite the battle she imagines. Palin couldn’t be more wrong when she asserts that one group of Americans is more “American” than another — or when she implies that “real Americans” favor division and fear, or the right of one person to “make it” at the expense of his neighbors. And her soul mate Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-6th) was downright frightening when she called on the media to root out “anti-Americans” — whoever they may be.

Division and fear are not American values. In fact the “real” American values are the traditional progressive values that have defined the soul of America from the moment that Thomas Jefferson crafted the words of the Declaration of Independence.
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Tags: American Values, Robert Creamer

Photo: Pig and Banks Stuck, Lipstick Won’t Help

Bailout! A Case for
Economic Democracy
And Clearing the
Path to Socialism

“Washington can act with breathtaking urgency when the right people want something done. In this case, the people are the Wall Street titans, who are scared witless at the prospect of their enormous implosion. Congress quickly agreed to enact a gargantuan bailout, with more to come, to calm the anxieties and halt the deflation of the Wall Street giants. Put aside partisan bickering, no time for hearings, no need to think through the deeper implications. We haven’t seen ‘bipartisan cooperation’ like this since Washington decided to invade Iraq.”

–William, Greider, The Nation, August 18, 2008

By David Schweickart
Progressives for Obama

So wrote William Greider in The Nation last month. But a week ago it looked as if there weren’t going to be any more bailouts. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson refused to intervene to save the ailing investment bank.

Then Lehman Brothers promptly declared bankruptcy–and sent the Dow plummeting. Credit markets began to freeze up. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke quickly reconsidered. On Monday Paulson proposed a $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system–a plan involving more money than any single government program in history, more money even than we’ve spent thus far on the Iraq debacle–and he wants it approved right away, within the week, before Congress adjourns to prepare for the election.
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One can’t but think of Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine”–the propensity of neoliberals to push through their radical-restructuring programs when the recipients are too stunned by cataclysmic events (military coup in Chile, collapse of the Soviet Union, shock and awe in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, etc.) to realize what’s happening.
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Tags: David Schweickart, Economic Democracy, Socialism

[Note from CarlD: a long read, but worth it.]

10 Things Obama
Needs to Do in
the Final 60 Days

By Drew Westen
Huffington Post

Democrats around the country have been growing increasingly anxious over the last week, and for good reason.

If there was a clear message from Denver, it was reflected in the remarks of virtually every commentator on television after Obama’s magnificent speech: “Wow, Obama can throw a punch.” He needed to indict the Bush administration and the Republican Party for what they have done to the country, and he needed to show that he can be powerful, not just eloquent and inspiring.

If there was another message, it was the power of narrative. Over and over we heard comments like, “Wow, what a great story”–referring both to the stories Michele and Barack Obama told about themselves and the stories Bo and Joe Biden told about Obama’s vice presidential nominee, which drew a visible tear from the eyes of Michele–which itself addressed the story Republicans were trying to tell about her, that she is a cold, hard, angry black woman (the same story they told about Hillary Clinton when she was first lady, with the racial twist to make it more incendiary). (more…)

Tags: Drew Western