Features » August 25, 2008

Moving Obama Left (cont’d)

No Wellstone

Domestically, Obama’s sermons to black audiences about family responsibility are politically valuable for winning white votes. Despite legitimate criticism that blacks alone seem to be singled out for failing families or watching too much television, many African Americans also embrace Obama’s message. It was consistent with Obama’s politics (he often talks about how government can’t solve all problems) and did not preclude increased social responsibility toward the needy.

And his appointments of many mainstream Democratic economic and foreign policy advisers may raise anxieties, but they’re not surprising for a candidate who has talked about transcending ideological divisions. Overall, Obama is no crusader like the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), but a “pragmatic progressive,” says Wilson.

“He’s made some small shifts but no fundamental change,” says Wilson. “Some on the left simply overestimated where he stood and thought he was some leftist. He hasn’t changed fundamental values, but he’s always been willing to compromise.”

Throughout the primaries, Obama walked a political tightrope, inspiring hope for dramatic change and, for other supporters, a new post-partisan politics. If he appears not to be principled in his pursuit of fundamental change, he risks losing the energy that could carry him to victory.

Strategists from the Democratic left argue that Obama needs a bold progressive plan, especially on pocketbook economic issues and the war, not only to solve the nation’s problems but also, simply, to win.

“The enthusiasm he garnered from younger people was based on their perception of him related to what they wanted to see, not what was there,” says Bill Fletcher, executive editor of BlackCommentator.com, and a leader of Progressives for Obama. “Their perceptions of him were rooted in rebellion against the Bush and Clinton years, and their hopes for a different kind of politics. If Obama presents himself as a kinder, gentler DLC’er [the corporate-oriented Democratic Leadership Conference], it’s not going to inspire.”

‘The movement, not the person’

Antiwar and healthcare proponents are organizing independent efforts to make their issues central to the presidential race this fall, and to keep pressure on Obama.

Iraq Campaign 2008, for example, is mobilizing a broad coalition to knock on “a million doors for peace” on Sept. 20, talking about the war in Iraq and its costs to Americans. On healthcare, progressives are divided between growing ranks of single-payer, Medicare-for-all advocates and a new, institutionally weightier coalition of more than 100 labor unions and other advocacy groups – Health Care for America Now. The coalition, which includes organizations such as AFSCME (public employees) SEIU, the AFL-CIO, Campaign for America’s Future, and ACORN – promote a strategy closer to Obama’s proposal that would include employer-provided or individually purchased corporate insurance and the option of a public plan

While some on the left may still opt for the Green Party’s Cynthia McKinney or independent Ralph Nader, most typically say they support Obama because of the need to defeat McCain. Members of the 125 chapters of Progressive Democrats for America (PDA) overwhelmingly preferred Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) or John Edwards. Now, says PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter, their goals in the campaign are to support “more the Barack Obama movement, not Barack Obama, the person” and “to make him a better candidate.”

Democracy for America did not endorse a candidate in the primaries. Now the 725,000-member group – which grew out of the 2004 Howard Dean campaign – is working to support Obama and to push issues, such as withdrawal from Iraq and universal health insurance.

“This battle is about a culture of activism versus a culture of incumbency,” says DFA chair Jim Dean, Howard Dean’s brother. Whatever disagreements DFA may have with Obama, “I’d rather have the discussion with Obama than with John McCain.”

Obama’s campaign will set its own course. The dominant culture could push him to become more conservative, not only during the campaign, but even more so if he wins. Yet by organizing popular movements, progressives can promote issues in the election, encourage Obama not to drift to the right, and build the expectations and organizations that put demands on an Obama presidency.

“It’s going to be a bumpy ride,” says Carl Davidson, an organizer with Progressives for Obama. “People will get bent out of shape. This is politics. You’ve got to keep a laser focus – stop McCain, stop the war, keep your eyes on the prize.”

And the prize is the possibility – not the certainty – of what an Obama presidency can deliver.