Seven Bowls of Wrath

“Our powerful weapons are the voices, the feet, and the bodies of dedicated, united people, moving without rest toward a just goal.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This isn’t my favorite time of year. The “Christmas season” is too long, too frenzied, and more often than not, too stressful. In the US, at least, the reason for the season is obscured by commerce and non-stop advertising. I don’t have patience for Christmas shopping and leave that chore to my wife. I’m no help whatsoever when it comes to wrapping presents, as my work resembles something a chimpanzee with two left hands might produce.

And, of course, after the election of Donald Trump, all I see hanging over Christmas in America is a dark cloud. My wife tells me that I have been impatient, caustic, and short-tempered since November 8, and I can’t disagree. Depression has plagued me for more than a month. Frankly, I’m afraid of the damage the Trump gang might do, at home primarily, but also abroad; as it stands, Trump already seems dead set on stirring up trouble with China, and his cabinet picks demonstrate contempt for the very idea of public service.

I don’t feel any nostalgia for the outgoing Obama administration. I lost faith in Obama during his first term, when he appointed many of the usual suspects, like Tim Geithner, to key cabinet positions, and failed to prosecute any Wall Street executives who crashed the economy in 2008. Forgotten in most of the feel good stories about Obama is how he squandered the congressional majority he enjoyed during his first two years in office by constant efforts to appease the GOP. During those first two years Obama appeared weak and rudderless, and he let the opposition run the narrative. This led to a crushing defeat for the Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections, to the tune of six lost Senate seats and 63 lost in the House. While Obama dithered, the GOP obstructed and distracted.

I will not forget other key Obama failures, like the fact that he continued, and even expanded, our failed War on Terror, chipped away at civil liberties in the same manner as George W. Bush, and provided lukewarm leadership on climate change. Pundits call the Affordable Care Act a singular Obama accomplishment, which I would agree with if Obama had first proposed a single-payer system. But that’s not what Obama did; single-payer, the only sane way to provide medical care, never got a hearing. Too radical for the incremental Obama. Better to leave the insurance industry in charge.

I do give Obama credit for negotiating a nuclear agreement with Iran and for opening relations with Cuba.

Unemployment fell during Obama’s terms and the stock market rebounded, as was much ballyhooed in the corporate media, but no one asked the big questions, such as: what kind of jobs were created in the past eight years, permanent or contingent, high wage or subsistence wage, full time or part time? Same goes for the stock market. What has the rising stock market done for working people? Very little. But don’t tell the corporate media.

I’m depressed because no political party represents people like me who work for wages. The Democrats have had a 30 year lovefest with the professional class and affluent donors, to the detriment of working people, and this is one reason -- not the only reason -- that many working people stayed home on election day or decided to roll the dice with Trump.

To become viable again, the Democrats must purge every last vestige of Clintonism from the party, run Clinton loyalists out, and figure out who and what they stand for, and then, most important of all, learn to communicate with voters on an emotional level. Real jobs, economic, social, environmental and racial justice. Blocking and thwarting Trump’s mean-spirited, fear-inspired agenda is important and must be done, but it’s more important for the left and progressives and moderate conservatives to offer a coherent vision of something better. We know what we don’t want. The question is -- can we articulate what we do want?

As the year comes to a close I’m reading The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, a fantastic non-fiction account of the great migration of black people out of the American south. I’m learning history that I was only vaguely aware of.

I want to thank all the people in Russia, Poland, France and Germany who read this blog. Happy Christmas to you all.