Deja Vu All Over Again Yogi Berra

Has Obama Been Moved?

Oh to be a nonagenarian and keep remembering stuff that looks brand new to the youngens is history repeating itself. Yes, of course there are always new angles so you might call it “repeats with conditional changes.” I am once again talking about the Occupy Wall Street,OWS endeavor. They have been evicted from their campsites. What next?

(Not a secret. The police departments have been militarized. Back in the riot prone sixties as the Ghettos erupted I watched as the NYPD was given military vehicles to control crowds. That’s another blog.)

From listening to the many interviews I gather OWS is wrestling with, “what do we do now?” That’s where my DeJa Vu cuts in. Back in the 1930s we argued every night sometimes all night. The issue was how do we push for fundamental change in society as we deal with the day to day issues of unemployment, home relief, (welfare.) and evictions. Hanging over the whole business was the dark cloud of rising fascism. Hitler and Mussolini legions were already destroying everything we held sacred.

The major split back then? Do we deal with the immediate issues from which the working class would learn through struggle that they have the ability to take power and create a socialist society. Those who held an opposite view said we were just a bunch of reformers who were out to save capitalism by wringing concessions out of the ruling class. Though I argued against it at the time looking back I believe the latter were right.

I see a similarity between that argument and the present left dilemma. It gets expressed in “what are we going to do about Obama?” I believe our best hope is to push him into standing up for the issues he was elected on. In a recent blog “Left Looking for a Dance Partner” I suggested, if the OWS folks were going to have an impact they will need to create a new party or dance with an existing one. If and when we are ready to launch a third party that would be great. In the meantime if OWS want to be relevant they will have to deal with what is. Not what they would wish it to be.

When the OWS was evicted from Zuccotti Park a small band started to march to Washington. Their plan was to challenge the Super Budget Committee on the proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security etc. Unfortunately that never happened. By the time they got to Washington the Super Committee had already abandoned their effort. The GOP members would not agree to a little tax increases for the millionaires. Not surprising.

My point is. If we are going to be involved in day to day issues confronting the country we need to find those in power who are closest to our position. In this case it is clearly the Democrats. I know I know I hear friends saying, “Schrank that turncoat in the White House has sold us out and I will not go down that road of supporting him again.” I am not arguing for support of Obama. I am suggesting that when push comes to shove on the issues we will have to find POLITICAL ALLIES. I just don’t see to many on the GOP side of the Congress. Besides our only hope is that the efforts of the OWS people will push Obama into fighting for all those things he ran on back in 08. The issue of the the one percent versus the 99 percent has clearly been put on the agenda. Outstanding achievement for OWS. I also believe that Obama did hear it.

What was implicit in the Zuccotti Park, OWS decision to go to Washington after the police shutdown? It was a clear answer to the question, WHAT DO YOU WANT? They were going to rally support for those traditional New Deal Social programs. Look, if they started out saying the one percent are screwing the 99 percent where do you think they’ll come down on Medicare, Social social Security etc.? How about taxing the one percent?

Clearly this is not a revolution. It is a continuation of what I call, “the imperfect adjustments.” We have been doing it all my long life and we are still doing it. So, don’t fret to much as capitalism yet again muddles out of another one of its regular crisis. I do see signs that Obama is moving in the direction of being a fighter instead of a pleader for, “Can’t we all get along.” The no, no boys in the House and Senate McConnell, Boehner alliance has dashed that hope. It’s okay, you can call me a dreamer. I accept. Maybe that’s what keeps me trying.