even more booorrrred

My thoughts on what Fletch wrote last week:

- Maybe it is smart to not blow his political capital on potentially controversial nominees, and save it for actually getting his agenda passed. The policies matter, not the people, But:

- Why do all Defense Secretaries have to be Republicans?

- Why does his economic team lack a diversity of opinion. How about some well regarded Clinton era critics like Robert Reich or Joseph Stiglitz? Really, Larry Summers is a douche for helping create policies that favored the financiers at the expense of consumers.

- I hope the next Labor Secretary is truly someone who knows about the problems of workers in the workplace and (is it too much to ask to follow in the tradition of Francis Perkins) an actual friend of labor. Enforcing rights to unionize and protecting rights at work are key to the health of the middle class.

- Second thought on Labor: He owes organized labor – meaning, the union workers – big time. SEIU members gave him some blue collar cred really early in the primaries. Later on, many white union members of the AFL-CIO went door to door for him. He owes unions, and they know it. Early signs are that they are thinking strategically about how hard to remind him of this. I think that he should be proud to owe the labor movement some respect.

- Regarding Clinton: Yawn.

True, we’ve been here before, doubting Obama’s decisions during the campaign only to realize that he had good strategy and tactics (whatever the difference is) and won.
The night of Nov 4 felt good (still does), but now for those of us who are not party hacks, a win for Democrats or a political score for the Obama Admin is not necessarily a win for the rest of us (see the Clinton years). To sit on the sidelines and assume such will cause heartache and cynical withdrawal and voting for Nader in the next election. Stupid. We progressives have the opportunity to get an agenda passed through these politicians. But it still requires a grass roots movement, being politically engaged, and we, too, must choose our tactegery, whether to be aggressive in this opportunity and risk alienating potential allies, or play to political realities and risk being overly deferential.

Yes, let’s wait and see. But at some point, if we want to make something happen, we will have to continue to play.