Obama’s Awakening?

Crossposted at Daily Kos

No Drama Obama came out fighting last night! For him.

In a stunning and dramatic (for him) change of course, Obama actually said mean (for him) things about the Dems, the Republicans, and the SCOTUS, as well as the pundits and press. He was (for him) downright feisty and condemning.

Which is what happens when you realize that your “process” isn’t working, your “style” is ineffective, your “tone” is weak, and your post-partisan peacemaking has run into a brick wall of cowardice, obstructionism and just plain incompetence.

This sort of dramatic (for him) turn around is a response to the failure of his  agenda at the hands of cowardly Dems and obstructionist Republicans. And in light of this failure, that his critics on The Left have been predicting since before his election, his coming out swinging (for him) is exactly what his critics on the Left have been asking for, and predicting he would have to do, since before the election.

Yes. It WAS only rhetoric.

But at least it was the right rhetoric this time.

Heck, he even admitted that he didn’t lead on Health Care the way that we on The Left KNEW he had to do (and the Obamacrats, wrongly of course, defended him for) if it was going to go anywhere…

I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people.

While unfortunately glossing over the real failure that his lack of leadership has wrought….

But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.

It is called The Public Option, Barack, and you HAD IT and you let it slip away. Because you didn’t lead and you didn’t fight and you didn’t wake up to the fact that BOTH sides of the aisle are above all else….grossly incompetent at governing…..for anyone the benefit of anyone but their Corporate Masters.

And that if you want Change, YOU are going to have to bring it.

And that if you are going to bring it, you have to bring it HARD…..not soft.

He also (for him) embraced Populism and distanced himself from Wall St. This will be the real test of his rhetoric, and his (for him) awakening to the political and economic realities we face. He (for him) chose sides. And to his credit, he chose the right side. (Though cynically, it was the only side he could choose to save the Dems in 2010 and his second term.)

Now.

Now we get to see what he DOES about it. Will he come out fighting for Regulatory Reform to start to right the economic playing field? Will he get out in front and lead on this absolutely key issue of Wall St. vs Main St.?

Or will he revert to the weak and ineffective leader he was in his time adjusting to the fact that he IS the President, he DID promise change and he DOES have the power to effect that Change?

Maybe now the Obamacrats won’t have to further use their most pathetic apology of them all: He is only the President and the president isn’t powerful.

Maybe now he will start to USE the power that The People gave him when they made him the most powerful man in the world, with a CLEAR mandate to take on the Republicans, the Corporations that have bought our government, and the cowardly Dems who DO “run for the hills” at the first loud noise.

MAYBE, he is ready to become…finally….the leader that we need. Now that he SEEMS to be getting the message that leadership, especially in these dramatic times…..requires drama.

And not the passivity that he has displayed in “leading” our nation out of the mess that the Republicans and their Corporate masters created. Not to mention the drama needed to lead the country in a new direction.

Yes it was just a speech. Another Obama speech that promises everything in soaring rhetoric……and then abandons or reverses those promises in the face of some imagined “pragmatism.” That turns out just to be an unwillingness to fight for the Change he asked us all to believe in….but he admits has not been delivered.

It was only rhetoric. But at least it was the right rhetoric this time. The rhetoric of someone just awakening to the fact that he has a fight on his hands, and that the weapon he needs for that fight IS drama, and passion, and leadership.

The next round, taking on Wall Street on behalf on Main Street, will tell the tale.

With the little Hope we have left, let’s hope his actions live up to his dramatic (for him) rhetoric of last night. And that he will finally start to fight. For us.

THAT will be Change We Can Believe In.

And that will be the Change that will bring the Left together and inspire the Independents to return to supporting Democrats.