Obama’s Blunder

Posted on December 7, 2010 in Accountability Campaign 2010 Class

Obama has been a disappointment lately. He has not yet figured out the importance of not alienating his progressive base. California governor Jerry Brown understood this when he faced defeat after the passage of Proposition 13. But instead of calling his true followers idiots as the President seems inclined to do, he appealed to a populist notion: the voters have said that they want a change in how property taxes are assessed.

He won the election handily that fall despite the fact that he was up against the “unbeatable” Everelle Younger. His followers stayed behind him and many who supported 13 joined the procession. Never once did Brown belittle those who had knocked on doors to put him in office. Here is Obama’s big mistake.

How might he better handle things? He might simply say this: The voters want to give the Bush tax cuts another try. So in exchange for unemployment benefits, we’re going to give it to them. Then when things fall apart, he can say “We went the Republican way and the Republican Way has failed. It is time to apply some real economics to pull our country out of debt and to put people back to work.”

But for some reason, his advisers are adverse to giving progressives a little credit for understanding the complexities of economics or clout in determining who gets to be president.

My only question is “Jerry Brown? Won’t you run?”