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Obama and the left: Not what you think
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Haymarket Books will host what promises to be a fascinating discussion on Feb. 28. "The Left & Obama" will bring together four panelists to explore how to advance the progressive agenda in the Obama administration.
On a left-to-center scale, starting with the leftmost, I would rank the panelists in this order: Sharon Smith, author of "Subterranean Fire: A History of Working Class Radicalism in the U.S." and "Women and Socialism: Essays on Women's Liberation." Paul Street, independent journalist and author of "Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics"; James Thindwa, executive director of Chicago Jobs with Justice; and John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation.
One of the great ironies of the presidential election was that while right-wingers were frothing at the mouth about Obama the Socialist, the left was either pondering whether Obama was really one of them or attacking him as a sell-out who would do great harm to progressive causes. And while the media would have you believe that all of Chicago is madly in in love with this adopted son, the fact is that our progressive community — particularly the anti-war movement — has been sharply divided about whether or how far to support Obama and the Democratic Party.
In fact, the more militant types poured forth so much anti-Obama bile that you'd think they were secretly rooting for McCain. Check out this excerpt from an April 2008 post by "Let me make it perfectly clear" on Chicago Indymedia, the gateway to our real rabble-rousers:
The old canard, "Only Nixon Could Go to China," i.e., it's easier for a demonstrably right-wing bastard like Tricky Dick to do something that a liberal president would get reamed for, has a corrallary: It's easier for a "progressive" president to pull off right wing s**t. This was the secret to the "success" of Bill Clinton's welfare "reform," where a huge chunk of the New Deal bit the dust with barely a peep of protest from the NGO's of the respectable left.
Heaven to Betsy! If "Let me make it perfectly clear" and friends show up at this forum, the discussion will be very lively indeed.
The Left & Obama: Saturday, Feb. 28, 6 p.m. at UNITE HERE Hall, Debs Room, 333 S. Ashland Ave. $5 donation requested; no one turned away for lack of funds.
