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• Friday, November 21, 2008 08:45 AM

  Progressive Policy Implications

  You said this,

  "...I intend to wait and judge Obama on the policies he pursues, not the administrators he appoints to carry out those policies."

  One can hope that what people do can be an improvement over what one can expect by who they are....I was recently chastized for trying to point out the serious fractures within the broad coalition of voters and interest groups that supported Obama. I wanted to have people now try to come up with some workable resolutions to the ones they care about. I was told that it was too soon to worry about any of that because, as they said, Obama is not yet President. However, I think it will be late for Progressives to have input let alone influence if they wait until Obama starts revealing his policies.

  For example, I expect the Obama people to go for the Clinton/Bush foreign policy choices. Let's see...if there's someone in a country we don't like, don't send in the marines, think carefully, and send in a cruise missle.

  I understand that Obama voted for FISA and about that I expect him to not change his mind, nor pursue any Bush era miscreants. That will all be old news.

  As for the economy...trillions of dollars will be owed and spoken for by the Bush administration efforts to "help the economy" though we will find, no doubt, that all of it will be useless spending to the American people. Obama will be unable to address any of that as "criminal" or even "unwise" because his own team will pretty much agree that corporate welfare needs to be done.

  I suspect Glenn is correct in saying that Obama is a centrist and always has been. It was naive to believe that he would buck the system in any major way. However, he will have to because the system has become toxic to the people. The whole idea of opposing FDR as a "traitor to his class" was that some people thought it was more important to support the rich than figure out a way to help the whole country. Hasn't Glenn pointed out Obama is now putting together a team likely to support their class?

  —steven andresen Read steven andresen's other letters
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