Paul Krugman: In Defense of Obama (Rolling Stone)

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42. I hear you

My biggest concern is still the Supreme Court. If we split the vote and we get one more God smacked conservative on the court, everything we have gained since Roosevelt will be on the line. These guys don't care that they are reviled. One more and all our rights are in jeopardy (in my opinion). Your quote might actually work for me as well. We did not work in unison and we got W. Even worse, we did not act in unison and we got Reagan. Even though W was horrible and transparently a disaster for the country, Reagan's more subtle policy changes ruined us up until now. Things actually do run in cycles. Did you ever read The Fourth Turning? We never do learn. However, I do believe we do evolve to better and better situations even if it doesn't seem like it when we are living in it.

I have read Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity and it's scary. What makes you think, given all the dirty tricks they are not even trying to hide anymore, that if the got a Republican in the White House and even a split in the Senate that their VP breaks the tie, that they would not change the rules (and justify it by the changing of the rules in placing judges that we did) and pass a privatization of Social Security and Medicare? They would privatize education, the would abolish the EPA and you know all the others they have vowed to demolish with just a Senate rule change, like a majority passes a bill. I may be a big chicken, but I don't want to take the chance.

Look, I had really big hopes for OWS and unfortunately, they do what we always do. Instead of using it to affect change, what we got was a bunch of finger waving and we don't want to tell anyone what to do. We have this tendency to over think things (and whine sometimes) and instead of taking advantage of the split between the establishment Republicans and the Tea Party people we are now doing the same thing. That is why they keep winning and little by little taking more and more away from us. We don't know how to stay unified. We don't learn from watching what they get away with just by staying unified. Things may not be ideal, but we are actually chipping back. We have the first steps for universal health care, we avoided a Great Depression, we have equal rights becoming a reality in terms of who you love, we are starting the conversation and have made some step toward helping the climate. We give all that back if we split and let them win back the Presidency. It may be a hold your nose situation, I just don't know yet. I am concerned about Hillary being her own person because I really wasn't that happy with Clinton. He did sign the dissolution of Glass Steagall (among other things I am not happy about) which took less than a decade to blow up the economy. There was a lot more chipping away at regulations prior, but that is too complicated for here. Again, we did what we always do... we like Nader's sentiments so let's protest vote. As much as Gore was not everything we wanted, where do you think we would be right now in terms of climate change? We had a surplus then, think of what we could have thrown at a renewable energy future as that was his passion. I wouldn't change being a liberal or progressive or whatever the appropriate language is these days, but it hurts my heart when we bite off our noses to spite our faces.

Even though I totally understand what you want, I want us to win and chip and chip and chip until we get a better society. I also think that Clinton (the man and possibly the woman) is so competitive that they will want a legacy more dramatic than what Obama's will be after the dust clears. After all, before Obama Clinton was the top dog for job growth, but that is nothing compared to what Obama has accomplished and in a much worse environment. I am sure you have read Krugman's piece on his legacy. That could very well work to our advantage if they want to outdo Obama. It sound like, in the end, we want the same things. The question... how to make sure we get there.

Regards.