Sometime before the end of June this year the Supreme Court will deal a deathblow to public sector unions, declaring that the mandatory collection of dues violates the First Amendment. When that happens, it will be the latest example of yet another loss to progressive politics that can be attributed to Barack Obama.
It’s time that the left in America admit that Barack Obama was a horrible president when it came to progressive politics. He was simply yet another neo-liberal Democrat who sided with corporate America, ignoring the plight of working class America.
Obama’s political and policy mistakes are more magnified over time. Granted he did not have a 60 vote filibuster-proof Senate until July 2009 when Al Franken was seated. But he took office with broad popular support and Democratic control of Congress during a crisis, and could have claimed a mandate and moved a progressive agenda. He failed to do so. Yes, he faced a horrible economy but his plans for saving the banks largely helped them and did little for homeowners. In fact, his Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner largely admitted the goal was to make it more orderly for banks to process foreclosures than to save homeowners. The Troubled Assets Relief Program or TARP, started under Bush, largely stayed the same under Obama. Bailouts of major businesses such as GM might have saved them, but neither the jobs nor the wages for workers rebounded or…