Another piece I wrote for the Johns Hopkins newsletter. As always, I'm asking for any constructive feedback that you're willing to offer. That includes grammar, facts, etc. I usually get a few good responses that help improve my writing, so keep up your record DKos!
Disclaimer, since apparently people aren't reading before they comment. The only issue on which I expected immediate change was gay marriage. As far as the economy and health care are concerned, I said that I acknowledge that they aren't easy problems to tackle quickly.
Read: "I recognize that fixing our economy and passing a massive piece of health legislation aren’t easy tasks. Although I’m disappointed with the left’s ability to put its foot down on these issues, I acknowledge that a certain amount of patience is necessary for such massive overhauls to take place."
Also, constructive criticism doesn't mean stupid criticism. I'm not a writer, I'm an engineering student. I post here because I want to improve my writing, not get torn apart for it.
I’m still Waiting for my Change, Obama
Does anyone else remember being promised some change? Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The Defense of Marriage Act. The war in Iraq. The war in Afghanistan. Health care reform. The economy. College tuition bills and text book prices. What happened?
Bill Maher tore into the Democrats last month on his HBO show ‘Real Time’, commenting on their sudden abandonment of progressive policies and calling them ‘the new Republicans’. Bill couldn’t have been more wrong. If I remember correctly, Republicans actually passed laws when they were in power. Republicans powered any piece of legislation they wanted straight through congress and onto the President’s desk – regardless of public opinion. Now we see a filibuster proof Democratic majority in the Senate, a control of the house, and a popular president in the white house. And what do the Democrats have to show for themselves? Stem cell funding. And a 100% approval rating among banking and insurance CEOs.
On September 15th, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, landed a jet on the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner of ‘Mission Accomplished’ where he officially declared an end to major combat operations on Wall Street. Although we saw a small decrease in the job loss rate toward the end of the summer, it has again begun to increase through the past month and even liberal economists such as Paul Krugman are warning that "the complacency now setting in over the state of the economy is both foolish and dangerous."
Yet American taxpayers still haven’t seen how the enormous sums of money paid to the irresponsible organizations that caused this meltdown will ultimately come back to their own pockets. Thomas Lee, ex-CEO of Simmons Bedding, just retired with $77 million in profits while private investment banks gained around $750 million dollars from the company. How? By slowly bankrupting Simmons, costing bondholders $575 million dollars and thousands of workers their jobs. After all of the harmful practices that these banks have used to drive us deeper into debt, the best Obama could do in his address on financial reform was wave his finger. That certainly isn’t the change I voted for.
Right now we see our government engaged in a debate that will easily be the defining issue of Obama’s presidency: health care reform. A study in the American Journal of Public Health determined that 44,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance. This is a painfully sobering figure, yet it sits among several numbers which define the current failures of our health care system. Despite strong and consistent support for the public option and numerous polls showing that a majority of Americans would be willing to pay for health care reform, Democrats have been unable to provide a solution to our health care crisis which will cover all Americans, lower wasteful spending, and provide quality care that cannot be taken away.
I spent much of the summer accusing conservatives of spreading lies and scare tactics such as ‘death panels’ and ‘mandatory euthanasia’ in order to kill health reform. Yet how can I place the blame on the minority party for the failure of the majority? Do Democrats not realize that they only need 51 votes to pass legislation in the Senate? Was it not Democrats who killed two public option amendments in the Senate Finance Committee last week? Can Obama really not convince the Blue Dogs to support legislation that a majority of voters in their states have supported? That certainly isn’t the change I voted for.
I recognize that fixing our economy and passing a massive piece of health legislation aren’t easy tasks. Although I’m disappointed with the left’s ability to put its foot down on these issues, I acknowledge that a certain amount of patience is necessary for such massive overhauls to take place. This brings me to gay rights. 13,000 fully capable servicemen and women have been discharged from the military for their sexual orientation since Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) was put into place. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a clear violation of the Full Faith and Credit Clause, has allowed states to ignore homosexual marriages performed in other states since 1996. Only 1 week before the inauguration, Robert Gibbs gave a simple "yes" when asked if Obama planned to repeal DADT. On March 30th, Gibbs then said Obama planned to "push that one down the road a little bit". On September 3rd, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said with no Republicans willing to support the repeal, the Senate had "little time on the schedule for this fight". Now the national security advisor, James Jones, is telling homosexuals that Obama will deal with DADT "at the right time". Am I the only person who believes that the right time was January 21st?
Gay marriage is more than just a civil rights issue. Perfectly competent and extremely skilled translators are being discharged from the military because they’re gay. Some couples are paying up to $200,000 more for health insurance than heterosexual couples simply because their relationships aren’t recognized by their state. So where are we seeing change? We’re seeing it in Texas, according to an October 2nd ruling that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. When I see the state of Texas taking a more liberal stand on gay marriage than the Democrats in Washington, I can assure you that this is NOT the change I voted for.
My support for Democrats is waning. Yet who else can I rally behind? There are a few honest progressives on the left who are standing strong for the public option, calling out for gay rights, and asking to hold Wall Street accountable for its failures, but the trends aren’t in their favor. I understood in November that Obama was a moderate Democrat; I supported his call to bipartisanship, and I believed in his message of change. But taxpayer money is still being sent overseas to kill foreigners instead of being used in our country to save American lives. Guantanamo Bay is still open for business, and voters in Maine still have a chance to take away their homosexual citizens’ right to marry. Wall Street is still gambling with workers’ life-savings, and I still can’t get Swiss cheese on my Subway hoagie. There are certain issues on which no compromises should be made – these include civil rights and access to health care. If the Democrats in power aren’t willing to take the necessary stand to ensure the quality of life for all of our citizens, I’ll look for a party that will.