The problem with incrementalism is that it works in both ways. President Obama’s Hope and Change vision began its decline from he entered the Oval Office.
Obama’s “Hope and Change” change was incremental
Many progressives saw the change right away. The Obama for America movement did not get the support post-election. Well, the country was in dire straits. Cut him some slack. Then the fight for the stimulus package was weighted too much towards those who destroyed the world’s economy even with a very Democratic Senate and House. Then there was toying with cutting Social Security on the sly putting chain CPI on the table. Of course, there was the refusal to fight then for a public option. The Republicans did not screw up Obamacare. They were absent even as they terrorized Americans with lies about a plan there conservative think tank created. It was Democrats who canned the public option.
As Americans started getting tired of being screwed and started to exert their preferences for progressives, candidates with policies they support, it’s Democrats complicit with a corporate mainstream media using psychologically tested scare tactics to redirect Americans from a resolve for change instituting fear for an unknown that is really known.
And to cap it all off, they get President Obama, the still beloved Democrat to convince Democrats that most Americans just don’t want transformational change. Obama has redefined his “Hope and Change” to “don’t bother Hope for Change.”
One of many reasons incrementalism is terrible especially in these times of microtargeting, distrust, and connectivity is that stopping a well-seeded direction is difficult. We have been moving rightward for some time.
Obama wanted to be transformational like Reagan in the progressive direction. But instead, he got captured by the corporatocracy, the plutocracy. I guess $400,000 a speech can do that if you are not grounded in a real morality to help those who need it most.
Progressives must choose to make all who oppose the existential changes America need, irrelevant. Obama has now placed himself there. Let’s choose to follow the old Obama doctrine.
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person,” Obama said. “Or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Let’s not just talk the talk. Let’s walk the talk. Progressives, don’t HOPE. MAKE CHANGE!
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