Reflections on the Price of Spinelessness on US Election Eve

Another week, another set of evidence that Pres. Obama’s spine has gone missing.  Mind you, people did ask me when he was elected why I was pleased but not enthusiastic – the answer was that Pres. Obama has always been more of a blue dog Democratic Party member (centre right, really); that is no crime but it did mean his bold public agenda was likely to be a facade.  It was.  But this latest series of  lack of strategic and operational courage tell much:

·         Throwing the environmental agenda in the trash

·         The whole let’s-keep-the –media away from the BP soaked shores

·         Let’s trade offshore oil drilling for a climate/energy bill that the opposition would still not agree to (as they stated clearly) – and oops, right before Deepwater Horizon (sounds like a disaster movie name even before it really happened)

·         Let’s give into the Party of No and Know-Nothing

Bitterly disappointed?  Not really but I did expect it to be not this bad.  It does seem to me Pres. Obama’s spine has gone missing given this and many other issues (e.g. reluctant to understand that he will never win over people who have an irrational hate of him; bailing from DADT, same-sex marriage, a bolder health care bill, sort-of-but-not-quite supporting the right of Muslims to open a cultural centre on private and zone-approved land, etc).  He’s lost his base – his own press secretary insulted them and suck up to their screaming opponents – and yet may not lose the Senate mid-term because the monster raving loony faction of his opposition is strong enough to split votes and make people frightened to vote against them (not for the Democratic Party so much but against the Tea Partiers).  I would say this is arrogant of me except it is consistent with junior and senior pundits of independent or progressive vintage alike.

What will it mean for the environment?  Not much, I fear.  The weak climate bill probably still fails to pass.  Expect little else because even when there was a lock on Senate and House, the President did little in the way of bold initiatives.  He’s still better than Bush the 2^nd but, here it comes, worst than Richard Nixon.  Yes, Nixon, who had Walter Hickel helming major early environmental legislation (like Nixon though Hickel was conflicted in thought and action – he just died this year so his full legacy is now being assessed).

For those who disagree and say Pres. Obama is not spineless, examples are welcome.  Conciliation is one thing; giving into crazies is quite another.  History teaches that those who are not willing to take bold risks and confront irrationality doom themselves and their country; those who do (e.g. Lincoln, Roosevelt I and II, Jefferson, Trudeau) stand out.