General Dysfunction
I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t find anybody today who was very pleased with Barack Obama’s escalation-cum-withdrawal-come-and-go policy toward Afghanistan.
Republicans, who created this no-win situation in the first place, came up with their predictable objection to Obama’s very loose timetable. The GOP simply loves wars with no end dates. Fight On! As they say at USC.
And Democrats, for the most part, were disappointed that Obama — who campaigned on doubling down on Afghanistan– actually fulfilled his pledge. Liberals expressed everything from heartbreak to outrage to denunciation. Historian Garry Wills vowed he would never again write anything positive about Obama.
OK. I’m not happy either.
But what exactly is the root of the problem here? Is Obama too soft? Is he too centrist? Is the White House too full of hawks and wannabe Republicans?
Truth is, I’m not much interested in the answer as I think the problem lies elsewhere.
Democratic fecklessness certainly might be one component of the fix we are in. But only one among many, many others. Our problems run much much deeper. The last year has not demonstrated so much the lack of will or courage of Obama as much as it has starkly highlighted the general dysfunction of our body politic. Elect someone who as much as promises even incremental change and you run right into an ossified, unresponsive system that has taken decades to gel and harden.
The eight years of tragi-comic horror imposed by Bush-Cheney distracted many from the core issues. Yes, they were off the wall. But only by a matter of degree — not in their entirety. In short, they were so friggin’ crazy they made many forget how screwed up our entire system is — the same system that got them elected. And by a rather handsome majority the second time around.
BOTH congressional delegations — Republicans and Democrats alike– are dominated quite literally by millionaires. They spend most of their time socializing with and talking with other millionaires. No doubt there are noble and well-meaning folks among the political class, but it matters little when the entire system is corrupt. And it’s not just kowtowing to special interests that corrodes American politics.
Add in the influence of simple ego and cynical momentary political gain that always trumps the common good. And that goes for both parties. The Republicans are willing to loot the treasury and throw our young people into various meat grinders before admitting that America is NOT an omnipotent empire and that we cannot and should not believe we can influence the entire course of world events. And they don’t hesitate for a moment to exercise blatant political blackmail, ready to accuse any Democrat of high treason if he, or she, should dare to question this or that military catastrophe. The Democrats willingly play the same game and gleefully enable their Republican partners. One, I imagine, can conjure up a drop or two of sympathy for the Dems but they are nonetheless complicit in the whole shell game.
Factor in a commercially-driven amoral media who, as pointed out some time ago by Hunter S. Thompson, has directly contributed to the dominance of corrupt American politics by engaging in the absurd fantasy of “objective” reporting i.e. refusing to call liars liars or torturers torturers.
And the American electorate? Would they respond more nobly to a more noble political leadership? I suspect so — to a degree. It was Lewis Lapham who wrote some years ago in one of his sterling essays for Harper’s that too many Americans view their relationship to politics as hotel guests do to room service. How well am I waited on? How well are my demands met? Which party will go the extra length to favor me and charge me the least?
We live in a time when effective unemployment is really about 16%. When one out of four American children is now on food stamps. When 50 million people have no access to medical care. When we actually spend time debating death panels instead of rational ways to stay healthy. When people are willing to line up overnight to get a discounted big screen TV but not participate in a march demanding they have health care. When too many people are worried that same sex couples might get married — as if it is any of their goddamn business. When we believe we can fight two wars that are not only unwinnable, but that we can do so by demanding no war tax, no draft, no sacrifice whatsoever except for the mothers and fathers who lose their children in a fucking nameless desert, fighting for a regime dominated by poppy-growers and warlords.
I’m not letting Obama off the hook. No way. But if you think he is the problem here, or that the Democrats are not resolute enough (when in fact they are doing what they have always done) then you have not been paying attention to American history.
A bit misanthropic this evening? You betcha.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 pm
My father who was always right of center (until Bush that is) sends me this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/america-without-a-middle_b_377829.html with the quote “the fox is guarding the hen house” and espousing the desire to support “radical groups,” things are fucked.
In these moments I understand the Weatherman instinct. The despair is not just aimed at the two major parties but centrally at the American people.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 am
Fuck yeah, Mark. Right on.
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:59 am
I don’t want to hark back to any “good old days” because there were always folks for whom the old days weren’t good at all. But I’m old enough to believe that something has happened in both the economy and in our political discourse over the past couple of decades that is more systemically poisonous than what, even as a kid who was far more radical than I am now, I had perceived “back in the day.”
Concentration of wealth and disproportion in benefits from increases in productivity – which have always been huge – seem to have gotten hyper-extreme as the older “institutional” economy has collapsed, the velocity of capital has increased dramatically and forms of capital accumulation become ever more opaque, complex and globalized.
And the political parties seem increasingly incoherent and fraught with bizarre – and in the case of the Democrats, paralyzing – alliances. The GOP seem to have totally departed the world of rational discourse for exercises in mystification of power, psuedo-populist demagogy and radical know-nothingism.
The proliferation of radically decentralized media seems to generate as much aggressive ignorance, compulsive voyeurism and white noise as it does opportunities to educate oneself on issues and communicate more effectively. ( “Top Story – Tiger Woods”, the Glen Beck Paranoia Hour, Palin’s FaceBook politicking, etc. etc.)
I don’t know the solution, but I refuse to succumb to despair. I’ve seen it before on the left and it contributed to the problem. (Also, first time with a “Bang!”, second time with a wimper – so there’s not even the prospect of the adrenaline rush and other enhancements that fueled our adolescent madness and made it feel sublime as much as it was scary.)
I’m feeling a terrible depression about politics right now, which started when I recognized the scale of a near-psychotic backlash to Obama that was being tolerated and even egged-on by allegedly mainstream “conservatives”, and when the outlines of the health care reform “debate” took on the trappings of total lunacy and disingenuity. I’m dealing with it the same way I deal with periodic bouts of depression (mild, not chronic) in any aspect of my life. Slogging on and trying to focus my own actions and responses to produce the best possible outcome as it relates to whatever is getting me down. Yeah, curse the darkness and all that, but remember to light a couple of candles along the way.
Myself, I’m looking foward to the 2010 races and looking to opportunities to help in some small way the campaigns of any congressional Dems who represent “noble and well-meaning folks among the political class.” They’re the minority, but without them we truly are totally fucked and the possibility of moving even small pieces of a progressive agenda becomes increasingly remote. I hate politics, I’m mostly disgusted by the spectacle, but as a grandfather I refuse to give up on the game, even if change is only incremental (and knowing that I’m mostly playing defense) or to give up on the country.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:00 am
The years of magical thinking draws to an end.
I guess Marc won’t be attending the the Jobs Summit.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 am
http://www.rall.com/uploaded_images/12-3-09-773343.jpg
Hey, 50, 000 guys in Iraq are getting $1,600 a month not to shoot at the US Empire.
Print some more money, Obama!
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:07 am
Bob – there’s been nothing in the last 30 years to match the magical thinking of “Tax Cuts!” as the solution to every problem, or the Neo-Cons claiming that Iraq threatened us with Weapons of Mass Destruction and and invasion would spread Democracy through the Middle East. Look in the fucking mirror. Your boys are still the most brain-dead fucks in the Beltway, bar none.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:32 am
Really good column, Marc.
If you had the means — or a magic wand — where would you start to re-arrange things? Publicly funded campaigns?
I remember fairly clearly the post you ran on the two major political parties wooing all the corporations at the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver.
We ended up getting Obama, a really good politician from a really mediocre party.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
“Hey, 50, 000 guys in Iraq are getting $1,600 a month not to shoot at the US Empire.”
It’s ironic that’s about the same amount as the average monthly unemployment check here in the US.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am
“No doubt there are noble and well-meaning folks among the political class…”
I don’t know, maybe Sanders, Wyden, Feingold?
Or am I just another deluded idiot?
Anyway, great post by the host.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:49 am
Malili Joya describes what’s wrong with Obama’s plan for Afghanistan: http://amleft.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_amleft_archive.html#3958494908044172353
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
I wish I could believe that Malili Joya and Tariq Ali have a plan to simultaneously withdraw US troops, keep the Taliban from taking over and build a coherent civil society via injections of international aid, but it sounds like an even bigger pie-in-the-sky projection of false hopes than what we’re getting from Obama, which I believe is a sober act of long-shot realism given the facts on the ground, with no blank check for Karzai, et. al. Ali’s fanatasy of having the Chinese demand peace in return for investment in infrastructure is absurd. In Afghanistan, unless you’ve got some or another army watching your back you don’t have a chance. I see Obama as trying to give the Afghans a shot at building a nationally representative force that’s not dominated by warlords or Islamic extremists and a protective umbrella for increased aid, construction and reconstruction at the civil society level. It’s may well be this can’t happen in the near term, but it’s worth a shot before we simply withdraw. Joya is in less danger from McChrystal’s contingent than she is from literally dozens of military groups that would be more than happy to eliminate her and any other vocal dissidents, including a resurgent Taliban.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
[...] Marc Cooper Democratic fecklessness certainly might be one component of the fix we are in. But only one among many, many others. Our problems run much much deeper. The last year has not demonstrated so much the lack of will or courage of Obama as much as it has starkly highlighted the general dysfunction of our body politic. Elect someone who as much as promises even incremental change and you run right into an ossified, unresponsive system that has taken decades to gel and harden. [...]
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Orwell was right. The wars will continue without end, while we sip our “Victory gin” and spoon up our pink porridge. Is it too late for rational leftists (I do hope that’s not an oxymoron) to recall words like “imperialism” and “militarism” and convince our fellow citizens to resist the temptations of empire? Bring the troops home now. Rebuild a functioning civilian economy, not a permanent war economy. And rebuild (build?) a left in this country that is based on solidarity, equality, and democracy and that is not afraid to stand for social transformation in all spheres. A left which can transform its own favorite practice of circular firing squads of the selectively deaf into a serious, thoughtful, engaged and ever-growing chorus of concerned citizens. Is it too late for that? When Obama said, “We are the change we have been waiting for,” he was right. We must now get our act together, or “wander for more millenia than there are stars” (from a poem by Erica Jong).
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:09 pm
My understanding is that a lot of the people who attend the TEA party protests have very similar feelings: a pox on both their houses, there’s no substantial difference between the Reps and Dems. Those parties are actually two wings of the same party, the party of the insiders. The outsiders are ordinary folks who pay the taxes that fund the whole thing — yeah, that’s you, buddy.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
The problem is that the American people are ignorant and self-absorbed, long ago abandoning the common good for self-preservation.
We want change, so long as it doesn’t require us to change.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
More misanthropy!
“When we actually spend time debating death panels instead of rational ways to stay healthy.
??When people are willing to line up overnight to get a discounted big screen TV but not participate in a march demanding they have health care.
When too many people are worried that same sex couples might get married — as if it is any of their goddamn business. When we believe we can fight two wars that are not only unwinnable, but that we can do so by demanding no war tax, no draft, no sacrifice whatsoever except for the mothers and fathers who lose their children in a fucking nameless desert, fighting for a regime dominated by poppy-growers and warlords.”
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
THe question marks were meant to be arrows!!! somehow the insert didnt take.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Reg: Yeah, as I said before, I think Joya’s more knowledgable than Ali personally. Ali’s ideal is just another form of imperialism. I just don’t think we’re making any progress at all and only increasing chaos. I mean, yes, average Afghanistan citizens don’t like the taliban anymore than they do the occupying forces,but the taliban are just getting more and more angry. I can’t help but agree with Joya here.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Obama is proof that symbolic politics are extremely limited. Obama might have broken many boundaries but that does not mean much given that he was unable to regulate banks.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:42 pm
GM Hoakster, I agree except that we live in a country where a major party and its leaders worry about Tiger Woods more than the war.
Yes, Obama is wrong. What are we going to do about?
December 4th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Lots to agree with here, and lots of problems. Is this
the same Marc Cooper who was stopping slightly short of
calling for a war crimes trial for Bill Clinton when he
pushed back at Milosvich? Compare the first year of
Clinton and Obama’s Presidencies and Clinton looks like
a raving progressive. Yet now the President gets all kinds of
slack.
If we are to accept the premise that Poor Obama has to
swim in mighty Fuped waters (and who could disagree?) why
does Cooper ignore the the obvious root of the problem?
The Military Industrial Complex has gotten so absurd U.S.
Today is running pieces on the corruption (and not bad ones
either). Are journalists like Cooper still afraid somebody is
going to accuse them of being hippies who spit on
Vietnam Vets at the Airport?
Again, how did we get here? From Today’s “Daily
Howler”: Al Gore introduced Willie Horton to the Public!
The Claim was utterly, stone cold false. It had started in
1992, invented by the RNC as a campaign attack on
Clinton/Gore. But eventually, the sainted Bradley began
shrieking it out, even though he’d explained how wrong
it was in his best selling book. When he did, the
mainstream Press corps followed along, en masse.
Chris Matthews repeated this bullshit this week.”
And were did I first learn of Al Gore’s creation of
Willie Horton? In an LA Weekly hit job on Al Gore of
course; drum roll please…written by Marc Cooper.
Dysfunctional is right.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I am 60 years old and have voted Democratic since casting a primary vote for Shirley Chisolm in 1972, but I am done with voting. It is a futile exercise. I naively thought that Obama might acutally be an agent of change but the oligopoly is too entrenched. If I did not have grandchildren here I would gladly emigrate to a non imperialist country.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Dear D White,
New Zealand has been one of those places people have been quietly sneaking off to for years…I bet the grand children would follow.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Hmmm furlough programs…. Apparently, in Norway, they have an island were the most vicious of criminals live in a civilized community of group homes and are able to wander freely and live like human beings. This includes ax or chain saw murderers. Recidivism is said to be minimal.
Castaways
The Penikese Island Experiment
by George Cadwalader
Foreword by Robert Coles
Since 1973 the Penikese Island School has continued to challenge the odds, take risks, and keep its vision. The result has been a significant contribution to the lives of troubled youth.
—Edward J. Loughran, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
********************************************************************
#
A Life Sentence: Norway?s Sustainable Prison – Wellsphere
A prison on an isolated, icy patch of land, surround by miles of freezing water—and no guards? If you’re like me, right about now you’re think.
http://www.wellsphere.com/green-living…norway-s-sustainable-prison/734337
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Greenline » Sustainable Prison?
Norway has a sustainable prison! Yes the bucolic oil-rich Scandinavian … A Life Sentence: Norway’s Sustainable Prison : Chelsea Green on June 29, 2009 …
greenlineblog.com/sustainable-prison/
#
Norway Unveils “First Ecological Prison” – Sustainable Housing and …
Norway’s relaxed prison policy is intended to reduce re-offending by released offenders, and Bastoey prison aims to bring new values to the handling of …
http://www.enn.com/green_building/article/22379 – Similar
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Norway’s eco prison | News | Sustainable Procurement | Action …
Download a video showing how Bastoey Island prison, in Norway is using renewable energy, self-sufficient organic food provision and recycling programmes to …
actionsustainability.com/news/176/Norways-eco-prison/
#
At Norway Prison, Inmates Lead The Good Life
Oct 19, 2009 … Norway unveils first ecological prison | Green Business | Reuters · A Life Sentence: Norway’s Sustainable Prison : Chelsea Green …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/…/at-norway-prison-inmates-_n_326116.html
#
Sustainable Prisons: Con or Pro? : TreeHugger
The organic farm at Bastøy Prison in Norway has been written about in Treehugger … spoke to Oregon Public Broadcasting about the Sustainable Prisons …
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/sustainable-prisons-con-or-pro.php
December 4th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Sorry for confusion on first ref to experiment still ongoing in Mass started by an ex military guy for “delinquents”.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Third Charmer,
You aren’t by any chance Sidney Blumenthal, or maybe even ‘ol Bill himself are you? I can’t think of another reason for you relentless single mindedness.
December 4th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Marc writes:
“I’m not letting Obama off the hook. No way. But if you think he is the problem here, or that the Democrats are not resolute enough (when in fact they are doing what they have always done) then you have not been paying attention to American history”
FDR would roll over in his grave to hear MC’s words… or Obama’s deeds thus far.
Here is a simple example… banks too big to fail are too big and should be broken up (a la Glass Stiegal)
Stop home forclosures.
Public Works.
WPA.
Bottom line: Those who benefit by Obamanomics did not/will not support him.
FDR figured it out and single handedly created the american middle-class…. meaning a 40hr week offered a living wage…
Today Obama has single-handedly created Timothy and Ben.
Those three of us here who write in populist hues of the Hope sold us of a new deal revival have been greeted (even by our host) with howls of execration for having the temirity to suggest witholding support to a party whose leadership, including Barak Obama, campaigned against the CT primary victor,Ned Lamont , and instead for Joe Lieberman.
Populism will never be embraced by the Dems again because populist tendencies eschew the real-politique of empire; a system which places pecuniary gain over true democracy in places like latin america.
December 4th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Thirdcharmer HAS to be either Syd Blumenthal OR maybe Bill Clinton is actually one of our readers.
Pablo has a diode implant from Caracas.
Tariq Ali has a bouquet of marvelous ideological answers for everything — none of which have ever worked.
Other than that….
December 5th, 2009 at 10:20 am
“Tariq: ….the Chinese involvement is very crucial for economic reasons. We need to construct a social infrastructure in Afghanistan, and only the Chinese could fund it. But in return for that, the Chinese would demand total peace and an end to war.”
No Tariq. Actually the Chinese demand total control for peace, whereever they are. The Chinese are not Americans. They never give something for nothing, and more often take something for nothing They really ARE imperilistists.
The worst thing Afghanistan could do is invite the Chinese into their country….and the only way they will ever get anything from them.
December 6th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Pretty ironic comment Jim, considering who holds so much of our debt.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Ha! Coop’s childish reaction here makes my day. Oh,
that I could be the evil “Sid” whom he and his buddy
Hitchens had to ape Joe McCarthy to destroy.
We must note Cooper ignoring the opportunity
to withdraw the smear about Gore creating the Willie
Horton issue, A LIE he cashed a paycheck from the
LA WEEKLY to write, among much other Republican
subterfuge garner no doubt from “pals” like Hitchens
and Mickey Klaus.
Other than that, he takes a deep breath, and
ignores what he really cannot answer. HIs measured
response to Obama’s war stands as a stark, utter
contrast to the hysteria with which Cooper greeted
Clinton’s (comparatively mild) hawkish moves.