Larger Editorial: Superman Struggling, Is Obama Worth It?

Last week I spent most items defending President Obama, but now it’s time to ask the flip side of that question: Is he worth it? By worth it, I mean is the entire Democrat Party worth compromising for this one man?

Far right wing conservatives (i.e. racists) hate him with every fiber in their body. No matter what Obama does, it seems “radical” or in some way the end of America as they know it. [In a way I guess having a President who isn’t white with a simple two syllables or less name like Clinton, Reagan, Bush, Johnson, etc. is the end of “their” America]. Last November in Alabama, popular incumbent Democrats that had served for 40 years were beaten in landslide victories. In the past, no matter how unpopular national Democrats were, Alabama Democrat state senators and state representatives seemed immune from that backlash. Not last November, as an extremely green field of Republicans with little to no government experience rode a wave of I-Hate-Obama sentiment to beat Dem incumbents and new faces alike in contests that weren’t even close. This coming two years after Obama won by a landslide nationally but lost by a landslide in Alabama wasn’t a coincidence.

Then there’s the flip side of that coin. The one not talked about much outside of Bill Maher or Tavis Smiley’s show: That Obama isn’t really even liberal, let alone a socialist. The Tea Party has worked so tirelessly to paint Obama as a socialist and the conservative voices have been screaming that his policies are so far left for so long, that it’s easy to miss the reason Obama is a pretty big disappointment to his own party: He’s actually much too comfortable with big business and ducks opportunities to curtail their power at every turn.

Obama did NOT raise the richest one percent’s taxes towards the end of last year like every economist not on the Faux News payroll said he needed to in order to help reduce the deficit. He did NOT pass strict banking regulations in the wake of Bush’s economic disaster that almost left the world financial sector in ruins thanks to deregulation. He did NOT interfere heavily in BP’s gulf oil mess (some people even blame him for it; those people are of course ignorant). And this year brings news he hopes to be the first presidential candidate to raise a billion dollars—he needs big money to donate to his reelection campaign which is probably the real reason he extended the Bush tax cuts—and he’s “open” to the idea of cutting government subsidies to the poor (the people he’s supposed to be helping) and going along with Republican’s plans to cut the deficit, which pretty much involve the rape and pillaging of Medicaid, because, you know, those people are poor.

So we are now in the middle of asking a very real question about Obama’s worth to his own party: He doesn’t defend education unions like he should, he doesn’t protect Medicaid from cuts like he should, he did not go far ENOUGH with healthcare reform, and has generally not backed his own party up on curtailing big business interests. Obama’s mere election is enough to lose Democrats in the South and Midwest their congressional seats but he’s not really showing up to back his party on the things that matter to us. Obama’s race makes him seem like a socialist radical to Hillbilly Nation, but his actual actions make him seem like a disappointment to the progressives that voted for him.

So again I ask “Is Obama worth it?” And the answer is yes. Yes he is worth some “Blue Dog Democrats” in the South losing their seats, they weren’t good Democrats that typically voted for liberal policies anyway and the South needs to get more comfortable with a black President, not get rid of him because they are uncomfortable. And yes he is also worth losing some progressives. I am disappointed we didn’t get the public option in Obama’s healthcare plan, but I am also thrilled to be back on my parent’s insurance (I can be until I turn 26) so the plan is a success for me and the millions like me who now have health insurance! Did Obama pass the banking regulation I would like to have seen? No, but he did pass anti-predatory lending measures that prohibit credit card companies and student loan companies from snowing us.

His Presidency has benefitted me in half a dozen direct ways, and I can’t say the same about Bush (exact opposite actually) or even Clinton. So I do think Obama is worth it, and after 2012, when he doesn’t have to worry about running for reelection anymore, I can’t wait to see what he’ll do.