So, President Obama gave a press conference yesterday (video here; transcript here) on the shitastic tax deal, and used the occasion to, once again, respond to progressives' criticism of his incessant capitulation by accusing them of expecting perfection and being too daft to understand how politics works, then upped the ante by implying progressives who expect(ed) more from a Democratic president with a Democratic Congressional majority don't care about USians who are suffering, thus also asserting yet again that progressives and "the American people" are mutually exclusive groups.
When a reporter asked "if the Bush tax cuts deal showed that he has no core principles that he's willing to stand firm on," Obama testily replied (in part):
This notion that somehow we are willing to compromise too much reminds me of the debate that we had during health care. This is the public option debate all over again. I pass a signature piece of legislation where we finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats have been fighting for for a hundred years. But because there was a provision in there that they didn't get, that would have affected maybe a couple of million people, even though we got health insurance for 30 million people, and the potential for lower premiums for maybe 100 million people, that somehow that was a sign of weakness, of compromise.Uh, no it doesn't. In fact, the primary reason that progressives are so insistent that Democrats pursue progressive legislation while given the opportunity is because we just spent eight years being made painfully aware that "not everybody agrees with us," and that when our ideological opponents have control of the executive and legislative branches, we are not merely marginalized for that disagreement but cast as traitors to the nation.
If that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it: We will never get anything done. People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position, and no victories for the American people. And we will be able to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about how pure our intentions are and how tough we are.
And in the meantime the American people are still saying to themselves, [I'm] not able to get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. Or not being able to pay their bills because their unemployment insurance ran out. That can't be the measure of how we think about public service. That can't be the measure of what it means to be a Democrat. This is a big, diverse country. Not everybody agrees with us. I know that shocks people.
And now here we are listening to a Democratic president talk about us as if we are not part of the oft-invoked "American people," with the same concerns and struggles and needs, but some highly privileged group who stands outside the realities of unemployment, spiraling healthcare costs, foreclosures, bankruptcies.
(That description does, however, sound a hell of a lot like the financial executives to whom this president has kindly catered.)
Look, I'm deeply sympathetic to the frustration and anxiety wrought by the expectations of perfection. And, sure, there are people who expect this president to never fuck up. But that is not remotely the quality of the vast majority of criticism being made. Progressives are not expecting perfection; they're expecting some shred of evidence that this president gives a flying fuck about the concerns of his base.
And if something can't be done because, as the president also said during his press conference, that negotiating with Republicans is like negotiating with hostage-takers who have taken "the American people" hostage, then he needs to direct his ire at them. Exclusively.
In any case, he needs to stop treating his base like stupid ingrates, because it is getting really goddamn old.
