(Community Matters) My friends know I’m an unapologetic enthusiast: I believe a great deal has been accomplished legislatively and perhaps even more through the regulatory system. I’ve told the story how on election night 2008 after then Senator Obama was declared President-elect, after jumping up and down so damn happy, crying, and hugging each other, most of us had a few minutes of pause, recognizing that it wasn’t gonna be pretty given the economic crisis and after 8 years of gross mismanagement. We knew there would be hell to pay in just two years and there has been – we can’t bemoan now what we agreed to then.
This administration prevented another Great Depression and passed healthcare reform (yes, admittedly far from perfect but a serious step in the right direction) – plus a long list of other achievements I’ve posted many times – and we have failed to deliver on major promises of the campaign to too many constituencies. Change – I know Republicans haven’t allowed us to change the ways of Washington . . . . but, we didn’t promise “Change, if Republicans will cooperate.” Equality for the LGBT community – again, we didn’t caveat this with any assumptions that Ds hold both Houses of Congress – and we damn well better get repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell done during the lame duck session or I fear losing (further) a very large percentage of LGBT support.
The environment – especially young voters seem to care most about this. We either proposed the wrong legislation or let blue dogs hijack the agenda. The economy – yes, in the context of where we were, we did a lot. And, we haven’t done enough. We expect the President and his administration to be able to connect with the American people, to explain what has been done, what will be done, and we expect fairness of sacrifice, fairness of reward. We haven’t negotiated very smart – we’ve negotiated so far just among ourselves, then we go to the other side of the aisle, offer even more, don’t get their support but fail to take back what we’ve given for compromise.
I remain enthusiastically committed to supporting President Obama and to the agenda we sold in the 2008 campaign. We did a lot in 2 years, and I believe we’ll do much more the next two. We’ve got to step up our game, negotiate smarter, require the other side to put up, and make a real difference in people’s lives *now*. The muzzles must be taken off an extraordinary team of cabinet secretaries, under secretaries and deputy secretaries. We’ve got to listen at least as much as we talk. We’ve got to frame the choices, the opportunities and the costs so that the American people understand. We’ve got to create jobs while doing much more. We promised. Americans sure have the right to fire us if we don’t.
Community Matters 