Leaning Left

Leaning Left

Jim Fitzgerald

You would not know it by listening to pundits but Obama’s less than two years in office has been a bittersweet experience for the left. Many progressive ideas, like an affordable public option for health insurance, have been left off of the table. Obama, contrary to what conservative pundits would have you believe, has hewn far more to the conservative middle than progressives would prefer. He has managed to upset the traditional groups that form the Democratic base. Still, Obama has been able to accomplish far more than most people realize during his short tenure.

Most people believe that Obama is anti-business. It goes without saying why Wall Street reform, coupled with regulatory agencies that actually regulate, was necessary. To expect businesses to behave is neither a right nor a left issue. That the government has to provide oversight simply reflects the uncontrolled greed that can overcome an unregulated free market system. To regulate the heart of the financial system, which has the power to destroy this country in ways Al Qaida does not, is simply reasonable. History has taught us that no industry is self-regulating. Moreover, don’t you expect businesses to be as patriotic as we? They ship our jobs overseas and we end up with the most product recalls in history. To blame the government for this is beyond the pale.

You might not like the stimulus package passed last summer but you probably liked the tax cuts. Payroll taxes were cut and we have all enjoyed a modest increase in our checks as a result. In fact, over one third of that stimulus package was tax cuts – a policy that conservatives believe increases government revenue. Reagan did the same thing when faced with a similar toxic mix of recession and high unemployment. You would be hard put to see this as socialist.

The stimulus bill also pumped $100 billion into our crumbling infrastructure. But, you say, such spending adds to our national debt. True. But let me say two things about that, problematic as it is. First, Cheney is famous for his “deficits don’t matter” statement but still has considerable credibility with conservatives. Second, Reagan tripled the deficit during his tenure, bringing Perot on the scene with his charts and graphs, but we outgrew those deficits during the Clinton years. We can outgrow them again – and will. As I have said before, I see the deficit argument as a red herring.

Doing something no other President has done, Obama has actually addressed our energy dependence in a way that can move us toward that goal. He is pumping $60 billion into renewable and clean energy, an investment that must be made if we are to stop supporting the Middle East, have clean air and water, and avoid environmental disasters. Progressives have been disappointed that he opened more areas to offshore drilling because of concerns that have, unfortunately, come true. But he has put us on a path to energy independence, a policy for which previous President’s have only provided lip service.

Obama has corrected the unequal pay that women have received for the same job as a man, signed a nuclear deal with Russia, allowed the FDA to regulate tobacco for the first time, overhauled the student loan system, and I could go on. But, Obama is not the progressive we thought he was in 2008.