A Program for Progressives
FSM and SDS alumnus and Tikkun Magazine founder Rabbi Michael Lerner has some advice for certain of the President’s 2008 voters:
Many are suffering from post-traumatic Obama abandonment syndrome — an ailment that came from being severely traumatized by Obama’s political moves in the past thirteen months. A palpable sadness, depression, anger and even despair carried by many who had worked for Obama and now felt betrayed by his choices in his first year in office was mixed with compassion and a strong determination to not allow the political Right to use our despair as their ticket to a political revival…
“What do we in the liberal and progressive world do now, if we face three, or hopefully seven, years of an Obama presidency?” The first step toward answering that question was to grieve what we had lost, honestly acknowledging the painful, for many quite humiliating, fact that after having built so many walls of self-protection against allowing ourselves to get sucked into some new moment of idealism, we had allowed those walls to come down as we became energized about Obama, only to find that once again our hopes had been dashed…
What happened in Obama’s first year is that most of those who had allowed themselves to hope began to appear to themselves and others as naïve fools, and the humiliation that they experienced will take some years and psychologically or spiritually sophisticated interventions…
the most important first step for liberals and progressives is to explain to themselves and each other that history is not over, that the Obama years still retain some possibilities, and even though we need to give up our (often unconscious) fantasy that Obama was our messiah who would save us and the world, we can and must still retain our understanding that the suffering in this world through poverty and oppression, the destruction of the environment and the possibility of ending all human and animal life on the planet Earth, and the survival of our own souls and mental health requires that we revive a movement based on love, kindness, generosity, ecological sanity, and caring for each other, including everyone on the planet.
Fortunately the objectives of Rabbi Lerner and his like-minded group have gotten much more limited and practical, as he has discussed at several conferences: “The SF Conference and its follow up in D.C. focused on two first steps in this direction: 1. An Environmental and Ethical Responsibility Amendment to the U.S Constitution and 2. A Global Marshall Plan.” Whew! Thank goodness. No more silly talk of a messiah, just the more prosaic and commonplace tasks of a Constitutional Amendment and a Global Marshall Plan. (HT: BOTW)
February 19th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
CPAC Speaker Bashes Obama, in Racial Tones
How can conservatives win the youth vote that overwhelmingly went for Barack Obama in 2008? At the Conservative Political Action Conference, apparently, some are betting on using racial stereotypes.
In a panel appealing to conservatives under 30, Jason Mattera, author of a forthcoming book called “Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation,” likened the gathering to “our Woodstock.”
In the panel, Mattera — imitating the sound of Chris Rock’s voice — mocked the notion of “diversity,” saying a “feminist new black man” was like “a crossover between RuPaul and Barney Frank.” And then (emphasis added):
Can we save our generation from Obama zombies, he asked. He answered himself by borrowing the president’s campaign slogan: “Yes, my brothahs and sistahs. Yes we can!”
There’s an audience for everything, but if Mattera really believes the best way to win over the next generation of voters is to resort to racial stereotypes and gay-baiting, then he has no understanding of the basic demographic challenges confronting the conservative movements. There’s just no way his message will ever work. Conservatives can romance the past, but if they want to win elections, they can’t live in it.
February 19th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
If you’re a progressive professor, and wake up, you shoot your fellow professors. If you’re a progressive ‘pilot’ and wake up you fly your plane into an IRS office. Is this all a result of progressive BDS come to fruitation?
February 19th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
What did Joseph Stack himself write? — “I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.” Seems to me that at least his complaint against government “restrictions” and his threat (and action) to respond with violence fit contemporary right-wing anti-IRS rhetoric much more closely than it resembles anything “progressives” have advocated.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:11 am
So, now the Rabbi is calling for a Global Marshall Plan? Is that the new name they’re giving the global warming hoax? Steve, I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on this. It seems to me to be the best way to market the changes you all want to see. After all, it appeals to America’s sense history and what we were like in the good, old days. It also gently tugs at the, “Let’s help out others less fortunate” heartstrings without asking them to put their SUVs in the garage. I think it’s a winner. I’m surprised people like the Rabbi didn’t go with this marketing plan from the beginning!
By the way, I suggest the Rabbi get on with this plan sooner rather than later. It doesn’t look like the president is having much success convincing the Iranians to listen to his melodious voice and just play nice. Soon they will have the wherewithal to make the Jews and Christians in the middle east “submit” once and for all. After all, the UN just said so.
Oh, and tell the Rabbi that his friend Hillary will get back in contact with him as soon as she gets out from under the bus. At least I think that’s where she’ll be in several months (or sooner) when the president blames her for the Iran failure and then gives her a gentle shove.
February 20th, 2010 at 5:45 am
I don’t see why Oba-mao-mao would consider any of these approaches. He won. It’s time for the left to “get over it”.
February 20th, 2010 at 7:13 am
Failure to lead?…
From Krauthammer’s Excuses for Obama:
In the latter days of the Carter presidency, it became fashionable to say that the office had become unmanageable and was simply too big for one man. Some suggested a single, six-year presidential term. The pre…
February 21st, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Steve, did you actually hear the speech, or are you just going to quote Zernike? Are you sure Zernike was right about Mattera’s motives, or might she be reporting on her own prejudices?
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/94249/
And speaking of gay-baiting, how about that Keith Olberman?
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/94257/
What did your comment have to do with the subject of the post, by the way?
Scrapiron: might not be the best idea to stoop to the level of progressives by suggesting that the actions of progressive nut cases represent the progressive movement beyond some personal attachment to it. I know it’s tempting, because progressives regularly make such generalizations when a conservative nut case does something stupid.
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:08 am
Oh, and Steve, concerning your response to Scrapiron:
You can’t believe what you read in the Washington Post in characterizing the political persuasions of the murderous Joe Stack, any more than you can believe what you read in the NYT about CPAC speakers. In addition to his anti-IRS rhetoric, Stack also spoke approvingly of the Communist Manifesto and angrily about the current American health care system. This doesn’t sound particularly “right-wing” to me. And he hated Bush, too. He was mad about a lot of things.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/298490.php
Follow the link to Hot Air (in the post linked above) for more specifics. Capehart apparently thought he had to leave out the “communist manifesto” part in order to characterize Joe Stack thus: “his alienation is similar to that we’re hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.”
They’re leading you astray, Steve.
And it seems that some elements on the Left are, unbelievably, even trying to link Amy Bishop to the Tea Party movement. At least you’re not THAT far gone.
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=16789