Thursday, 8/19/10, Public Square

Imagine……………. Part III.

Your’e not happy. I’m not happy. Most us are not happy. The only ones that seem happy are those on the far right that see our current struggles as a means of returning to power without having to admit to previous failures.

Imagine a world if the progressives and liberals, the rights activists and supporters, the liberal commentators and bloggers were to concede to the right.  Imagine, if you will, if we were to give up the fight – the daily fight – and allow the other side to win.

Has Barack Obama been a perfect president? Of course not. For starters, he begin Day One with most daunting set of circumstances of any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Add to that mix a politically inept Senate Majority Leader, the worst environmental disaster imaginable and an attack dog mentality opposition.

It’s difficult to be a liberal these days, but it is not impossible. It is difficult because it is just so easy to say “no” and critcize those that say “yes.”

Spending? Of course it looks bad, and it is difficult to explain to the “Tea Party” mentality why the spending is necessary, even though it has not produced many jobs.

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? We are pulling out of Iraq on schedule, but you would have a hard time getting the GOP to admit that. Afghanistan? Obama listened to his Generals – COIN was their plan – yet the “armchair generals” have a better idea since they got “anti-war religion.”

The list goes on. McCain wanted the administration to listen to the military leaders regarding “DADT” right up to the point when they expressed an opinion that it should be repealed. Cut taxes? Obama did cut taxes for a great number of us, yet the right wing machine insists that he has raised taxes and is doing in again in January, despite the “sunset” provision in the original Republican bill.

We have to imagine a better world than this one, but that means will have to be willing to stand up and be counted as a progressive that is willing to fight for our principles.

Politics is a full contact sport – it’s not for the faint of heart or the easily discouraged. “It could be worse” is scant consolation for those hit hard by the Great Recession or the lack of progress on social issues, but the fact is, it could be much worse.

Just allow yourself to imagine it.

William Stephenson Clark