On 2010-10-29, at 7:50 PM, Shane Mage wrote: > > On Oct 29, 2010, at 4:57 PM, Marv Gandall wrote: > >> >> I'm with Jim here. Obama may never, as you claim, have mustered enough >> congressional votes for a bigger stimulus, tougher bank regulation or >> restructuring, public healthcare, or mandatory mortgage relief. But it was >> well within the realm of possibility that, given the political will, he >> could have forced congress to act - or at least have demonstrated leadership >> - by using the bully pulpit of the Presidency to sustain and rally the broad >> coalition which propelled him to power. > > Congress has nothing to do with it. The Office of President has virtually > unlimited constitutional power. Congress wasn't needed for FDR to declare a > "bank holiday." Absolutely nothing stood in the way of Obama's declaring a > national emergency (nobody pretends that it wasn't a real emergency) and > placing insolvent too-big-to-fail banks into receivership.
Yes, and it's also been suggested he could have used his powers to declare a national healthcare emergency and to open the hospitals to the uninsured under Medicare, but this wouldn't obviate the need to a) build the kind of mass support which would be needed to counter the fierce reaction which would ensue and b) to get Congress to vote the funds necessary for an massive expansion of health care and other forms of social spending. Of course, no one seriously entertained either suggestion because it's widely recognized that the balance of forces would not permit it any reform-minded administration to go that far even if it wanted to. > The fact is that he was the bought-and-paid-for slave of the banksters. He > didn't use his powers because he had not the least desire to do anything of > the sort. That's all, folks. Maybe. In any case, it's clear that even if Obama took office recognizing the need for strong state action to end the crisis and revive the economy, he was too timid to undertake the required measures. The required measures were not revolutionary. Obama and the state he administers are the "bought and paid for slave" of the capitalists only in the sense they're limited to reform of the system which does not fundamentally impinge on private property and power. But more fiscal stimulus to promote recovery, tighter regulation of the financial industry, allowing big zombie banks to fail, reducing health care costs and improving the general health of the population, giving judges or regulators the power to restructure mortgages to clear the housing market - none of these reforms remotely threaten capitalism and all are subjects of ruling class debate, seen by many within it as being in the best interests of the system. Obama was not so slavishly and narrowly tied to the financial industry that he could not have chosen to align himself with the liberal wing of the bourgeoisie promoting these policies. I commented yesterday on LBO that in current conditions, a more modest rerun of the Great Depression, it was possible for Obama to draw on the precedent of the New Deal, "doing fireside chats on television, excoriating the latter day 'malefactors of great wealth', appointing a Pecora-style commission to conduct a televised probe of the Wall Street practices which produced the crisis, continuing to stump the country, and encouraging the tens of millions who enthusiastically voted for him to bombard congress with emails, to petition, to demonstrate, to organize, and to engage in other forms of mass action in support of jobs, housing, and healthcare - all of these activities, none of them alien to the American political tradition, would have put the country and the Democrats in a much better place than they are today." "At certain critical junctures, leadership is important, and mass opinion can shift rapidly. In fact, since the election, and particularly during the past year, we've seen such a dramatic shift in opinion - alas, in the wrong direction and largely attributible in this case to (mis)leadership." _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
