Featured: October 2009 Archives

Clarence Lusane is Associate Professor at the American University School of International Service, and is a contributing author to Changing the Race: Racial Politics and the Election of Barack Obama, being published today by Applied Research Center. The edited volume features 20 prominent thinkers and activists on race and the 2008 election.

Barely nine months into his administration, President Obama finds himself at a cross-roads. At one level, a top policy priority, health care reform, is in trouble. His popular support has steadily decreased and angry mobs and extremist media have dominated the conversation putting Democratic supporters on the defensive and made Republicans feel emboldened in their obstructionist behavior. Even before a real bill has been fashioned, the White House and Hill Democrats have tossed out (or hinted at a willingness to cast off) key progressive provisions.

It is already clear at this point that whatever passes, indeed, if anything passes at all, it will be neutered and not contain the central elements that Obama outlined during the campaign and early in his term, such as universal coverage and potentially not the “public option,” let alone the progressive demand for a single payer, insurance industry-free model.

Already the Republicans are gearing up for the fight over the Climate Change bill. They clearly believe that if the tactics of intimidation, misinformation, outright lies, agitation, and not a little bit of racism from Fox News and hysterically-conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh worked so well to derailed health reform — why not employ them again.

The weak, confused, and belated response from the White House - sending Obama out to the masses and more press conferences - has not only been inadequate but is exacerbating the differences within the Democratic Party. The tenuous unity from Blue Dogs conservatives to Kennedyist liberals is fracturing, as the White House sends mixed signals about what it actually is willing to defend and what it will abandon.

Despite the rage machine that the Republicans have created and fostered, with some very disturbing and dangerous trajectories, the blame for this growing crisis of policy and political wandering flows back to the White House and perhaps Obama himself. Using a relevant health care analogy, Obama has become unhealthily addicted to bipartisanism. His continued use will be his downfall.

Check out ColorLines publisher Rinku Sen's new op-ed at New America Media, in which she takes on the dangerous double standard behind the attacks on ACORN, and the consequences of not fighting back:

The attack on ACORN isn’t about fighting corruption. If it was, then dozens of corporations with federal contracts far larger than ACORN’s would be under investigation now, or would already have been cut off. The anti-ACORN Senate bill implicates any government contractor that has fraudulent paperwork, or is accused of violating lobbying or campaign finance laws. That list includes Blackwater, the private security contractor that has been implicated in civilian deaths during the Iraq war. Florida Congressman Alan Grayson is collecting a list of such contractors.

Of course, Congress could make ACORN obsolete by passing and enforcing laws that protect poor people from being pushed to the margins of society. Instead of paying ACORN to register voters, the federal government could actually punish voter suppression, which is largely directed at people of color and immigrants. It could adopt automatic voter registration systems that would be triggered by an 18th birthday or driver’s license being issued. It could pass predatory lending laws that protect us from insane interest rates, and then ACORN wouldn’t have to counsel its members about avoiding foreclosure.

The assault on ACORN is an assault on community organizing. Organizing is essential to building the power of poor people, immigrants and people of color to protect their interests. This is the time to stand up for ACORN, not just to keep this vital part of our national infrastructure, but also to prevent the hate from tying up all of us. That’s why we must demand that our election officials and media outlets stop this unwarranted campaign against the poor and people of color.

Check it out at New America Media.

With Max Baucus sinking the public option in committee, and debate still raging about our national health crisis, let's take a step back from the discussion and look at the fundamentals of our conversation.

When we say 'health care,' whose health do we really care about? How can we talk about a 'public option' when a lack of options is killing 45,000 members of our public every year, and while racial disparities are costing us hundreds of billions over the next ten years? When undocumented members of our public pay daily into a system that specifically excludes them?

ColorLines' Tammy Johnson asks who this 'public' is that we've been told we can't afford to care for.

More in the Word! video series:

"Illegal": Word is a Gateway to Racism and Exploitation
"Reverse Racism”: Word Distracts from the Big White Elephant of Systemic Racism
“Colorblind”: Word Twists Good Intentions
“Merit”: Word Hijacks the Conversation Around Race