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The Persistence of Dear Leader-ism
Open Left - Front Page —
... and a newfound zeal for a kind of Dear Leader-ism and you have all the ingredients of a political system moving to use an emergency situation to crush its own democratic ideals. And here's the thing that's probably most disturbing - the Fourth Estate watchdog of democracy often contributes to this anti-democratic push. ...
David Sirota: The Mystifying Persistence of Dear Leader-ism
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... and a newfound zeal for a kind of Dear Leader-ism and you have all the ingredients of a political system moving to use an emergency situation to crush its own democratic ideals. And here's the thing that's probably most disturbing - the Fourth Estate watchdog of democracy often contributes to this anti-democratic push. ...
Mandate Watch: Were Democrats Elected to Attack "The Left?" Part II
Open Left - Front Page —
... First thing's first: I absolutely agree with Hildebrand that you can't draw concrete conclusions about Obama based only on his personnel decisions - and I've written that repeatedly (and I've also said that most of Obama's policy declarations have been pretty progressive). However, Hildebrand implying that those personnel decisions really don't matter at all is straight up silly. It supposes that all the enormous egos that populate a White House are just mindless functionaries, and that even though those egos are heading major federal departments or are key advisers, ...
How to Make Sure the Stimulus Stimulates Our Economy, Not China's
Open Left - Front Page —
... The concerns are certainly valid - personnel always plays some role in policy. But as I wrote in a column a few weeks ago, emergency circumstances can radically change the thinking of even the most Establishment actors, and with Obama pledging to create 2.5 million jobs, he now has a political incentive to use every means at his disposal - including trade policy reform - to reach that promised goal. ...
Starting With Where the World Is
Open Left - Front Page —
... Rather than treating Obama as a Dear Leader, insisting every move he makes - no matter how troubling - is Teh Awesome, and pretending all of his Cabinet appointments are ultra-progressive ponies with a Secret Plan, it's far more productive to simply acknowledge what's really going on, and work off it constructively - sometimes in opposition to Obama other times in tandem. ...
Pre-Inauguration Obama Retrospective
Open Left - Front Page —
... - Our Dear Leader (Creators Syndicate, 11/28/08): With progressives worried about Obama as he appointed center-right Cabinet secretaries, this column discussed why to be simultaneously concerned and not concerned. ...
We Made Them Do It On the Stimulus
Open Left - Front Page —
... To those who said we should have just shut up and fallen in line from the beginning, and to those who said we should have just quieted down and "trusted" President Obama to "do the right thing," I respectfully counter that you're equation has been proven to be bankrupt by the results that our movement has helped create. Had progressives simply shut up and fallen in line - had we simply succumbed to subservient Dear Leader-ism - this bill clearly would have been far smaller and far worse. ...
America Is (Still) A Center-Left Nation
Open Left - Front Page —
... metastasize into Dear Leader-ism - an ideology that says the progressive movement's role is to worship, rather than challenge, our Democratic Dear Leaders in Washington, regardless of what they are doing. ...
