Obama Moves Further To The Right

When Barack Obama was elected president and chose Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff, it was a dark day for the progressives who had been largely responsible for his winning the Democratic nomination.   It was an early indication that the new president may not be nearly as progressive as many of us had hoped he would be, and that turned out to be very true.   Emanuel helped the president chart a center-right path and kept the progressives at bay.   I still think that it was largely due to Emanuel that the public option was dropped from the health care bill (for him a victory was more important than real change).

When Emanuel resigned to run for mayor in Chicago, it was a cause for joy among progressives.   I felt sorry for the people of Chicago (although they still have an alternative in Carol Mosley Braun), but I thought maybe the president could now find a better Chief of Staff -- one that would not alienate much of Obama's progressive base, and one that would fight the right-wingers in Congress to protect ordinary Americans.

Instead of returning to his political base, President Obama has moved even further to the right with his new choice for White House Chief of Staff -- William Daley.   Daley is a conservative Blue Dog Democrat (a former Secretary of Commerce for center-right President Bill Clinton).   He is also a corporate apologist and an insider in the Wall Street world of the financial giants -- the very industry that kicked off the current recession with their greed and mismanagement (since he is the Midwest chairman for JPMorgan Chase).

How far to the right is Daley?   Here's what right-wing fringe blogger Erick Erickson said about the selection,   "I talked to a lot of Republicans.   None of them had anything critical to say of Bill Daley.   They all kind of have the slap-on-the-forehead, said this would be a great pick."   In other words, right-wing Congressional Republicans consider him to be one of their own (something they didn't believe about center-right Rahm Emanuel).

Any hopes of President Obama standing up to the right-wingers in Congress has just disappeared.   This pick signals his surrender.   At least for the next two years, the White House will go along with the pro-corporate right-wing agenda, and that's very bad news for the economy and job creation and the millions of ordinary Americans who are being hurt by the recession.   The economy will remain a mess (while the rich get richer), and in 2012 the Republicans will blame that on Democrats (since Obama is nominally a Democrat).

As Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green says,   "This was a real mistake by the White House.   Bill Daley consistently urges the Democratic Party to pursue a corporate agenda that alienates both independent and Democratic voters.   If President Obama listens to that kind of political advice from Bill Daley, Democrats will suffer a disastrous 2012."

I can't disagree with Green's assessment.   Daley was a terrible pick -- and nothing good can come from it.