Robert Kuttner: A Tale of Two Elections

[ProSense]

Robert Kuttner

A Tale of Two Elections

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The comparison with Obama is all too instructive. Like Obama, Hollande inherits an
economic crisis not of his own making, but one that will soon be his. Like Obama, he faces both an oligarchy of bankers and a fierce set of political opponents determined to block his program. In Obama's case, the obstructionists have been the Republicans in Congress; in Hollande's, they are the conservative leaders of other European Union nations. Like Obama, he will have great difficulty producing change at a grand enough scale. And absent something close to a miracle, disillusion will soon follow.

The slightly hopeful news is that several other leaders will welcome a counterpoint to Merkel. Recessions, after all, destroy conservative incumbents as well as progressive ones. At the EU level, a senior commissioner, Olli Rehn, is already talking of loosening the fiscal screws.

In the headline to this post, I was thinking of two elections -- 2008 in America and 2012 in France -- but actually there are three more worth noting.

In France, parliamentary elections come later, in mid-June. Hollande has to win a working majority in the Chamber of Deputies in order to appoint a Socialist prime minister and effectively govern. If conservatives win the parliamentary elections, or if the far right and far left make major gains so that Hollande ends up governing in coalition with Sarkozy's UMP party, he is stymied before he starts.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/a-tale-of-two-elections_b_1495256.html

Please rec to show your support for the people of France, England and Greece in
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002653179

Hollande in Retreat
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002673754

Some people just like to attack. They have no solutions. It's all about tearing down hope, even before anything gets done. A good example is Wall Street reform

It's interesting to watch the same people who wanted to kill Wall Street reform before it passed now claiming to be upset because the bank lobbyists are trying to water it down.

Now that the bill is being implemented, they attack those who supported the massive regulatory package as being against regulation when these "kill the bill" advocates were the ones demanding that nothing was better than something.

There is a difference between working to strengthen legislation and working to kill it. Had they succeeded in killing the bill in the same way that climate change legislation was killed, there would be nothing for the banks to try to water down.

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t