Some Defend-President-Obama-no-matter-what-folks here will do anything to divert,

[Armstead]

167. Thank you for your thoughtful resonse

My response

1)When I referred to backsliding, it partly depends on what point in time one is referring to, and what issue. And history is often a matter of two steps forward and one step back (or one step forward and two steps back sometimes.)

When I refer to backsliding I am referring to the overall direction of issues related to Power and Money, and all that stems from that. And I am referring to the last 40 years (or so) when many of the gains in economic policy made during the mid 20th Century have been rolled back towards the direction of "Fend for yourself and to hell with your neighbor" of the earlier past. Both parties are equally culpable of stripping away hard-won gains and pushing us back towards the Age of Monopolies (except on a much larger scale).

2) I am aware that the modern position of the D and R parties have been somewhat fluid and changeable in the Big Picture of history.
But the fact remains that in more recent history the Democrats did stand for a time as the necessary representation of liberal/progressive values. And we NEED that counterbalance to the GOP and Corporate Power. The Dems won their support as the party that represented that. And they (we) should not be allowed to abandon it.

3)Related to that, the Deregulation Mania of the 90's I referred to was not Reaganomics or GOP Conservationism. It was just as much (or more) a product of Clintonomics and the phony "Centrism" of the Democratic Establishment. And they're still doing it, Including President Obama. That's what makes me and many others mad.

4)I totally agree with you that money isn't everything, and that other forms of "well being" have to be considered. However, the above mentioned deterioration of Economic Values makes that much harder to achieve. We have allowed Big Capital to make so many people so desperate just to get by that Survival, rather than well being becomes more of an obsession. It creates a vicious circle and helps to undermine progress on civil rights and the other aspects of well being -- for the vast majority of the population tat is not on the tine Club at the Top.

5)Most of us who are critical are not expecting anyone to be a single Messiah. We certainly aren't expecting that of President Obama. But we don't want the politicians who claim to be representing our interests, and who claim to be committed to meaningful reform, to be doing the same damn things the Republicans do on too many issues. President Obama is a good man and he generally means well. But he is just as susceptible to the temptation to get sucked into the narrow worldview and temptations of the Oligarchy as anyone. And when he does he should be called on it.