This is old, but in light of the torture it's worth revisiting.

[donheld]

Obama's president. Now, make him do it!


if you're a progressive, your work isn't supporting everything Obama does in the name of unity, or always deferring your agenda to what someone would have you believe is the greater good.

It's to keep on organizing to create constituencies that will compel Obama to govern like a progressive. I'm reminded of an anecdote about Franklin Roosevelt's relationship to his progressive base:

"FDR was, of course, a consummate political leader. In one situation, a group came to him urging specific actions in support of a cause in which they deeply believed. He replied: I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it," William J. vanden Heuvel, 2002.

Obama's opponents--the Republican hacks, the religious fringe, the crony capitalists, the corporate welfare bums, and the corporate state dead-enders--will never stop badgering him from the right. If the left doesn't keep up at least equal and opposite pressure, Obama will cave to the right every time as a matter of political necessity.

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2009/01/obamas-president-now-make-him-do-it.html

[truedelphi]

1. Eloquently said. n/t