Barack Obama's epic failure

Matt Stoller in Salon makes the case that 1) Obama has ruined the Democratic Party, and 2) Democrats should seriously consider dumping him before it's too late. What Democrats Can Do About Obama, Here.

I have to agree with many of the points he makes, except that I'm pretty well convinced it's already too late, and that we are already reduced to hoping and praying the Republicans screw up so bad that he is re-elected. We're only left with the hope that somehow we can maintain enough control in the Congress to limp through the next however long before we can organize a real Progressive movement, gain control of our own party, and elect someone who will actually fight to enact that agenda.

I keep trying to find something to be optimistic about, and keep putting my energy and money into trying to make sure Progressive Democrats are elected. But this President seems determined, time and again, to undermine those efforts; to cave in to preposterous Republican demands before there's even a fight; and to adopt Right-Center positions at odds with what he said he would do when he was a candidate, even when there appears to be no political impetus that should cause him to move in that direction. Examples of all of these are now too many to discuss. They're occurring on a daily basis. It's gotten so bad that it's actually hard to find anyone who expects any actual results from the President's jobs speech; and few of us Progressives can honestly say we expect him to even say what the vast majority of Progressive Intellectuals would agree is needed in terms of policy.

Right at the moment I am reminded of a saying that's common in Science Fiction circles: Sometimes optimism is just another word for wishful thinking.