Political Affairs podcast #98 – Equality, healthcare struggles heat up
The concept of examining a new presidency at the end of its first 100 days began with the first term of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency. In its first 100 days in 1933, in the midst of the deepest depression the country has ever known, after four years under President Hoover who was committed to the idea that nothing much should be done by the government to help reverse course, FDR secured passage of some of the first pieces of New Deal legislation (see Norman Markowitz, "Obama and Roosevelt: A Comparison of the First 100 Days").
As Markowitz shows, while all of Roosevelt's early agenda was passed by Congress, not all of it worked, nor has it been judged the most progressive legislation of his presidency. Only after the FDR administration gained momentum and greater left-center unity had been built nationally did his administration's most progressive reforms – Social Security, major labor reform, unemployment insurance, and welfare programs – get enacted. Nevertheless, the first 100 days of FDR's administration succeeded in creating an atmosphere of hope that meaningful change was coming.
Today, many of us on the left are more impatient. But let's take a look at some of the things accomplished in the first three months President Obama has been in office. Please note that our point is not to criticize or praise Barack Obama as the sole agent of change, or the perceived lack of it.
Keep in mind that Obama's presidency was made possible by a national labor-led people's coalition of peace, civil rights and democratic movements. As an advocate for the people and in possession of unique and intangible leadership qualities that draw people together, President Obama has had a major role in creating the real opportunity for passage of meaningful reforms that can strengthen the working class, expand democratic rights, heal the planet and bring peace.
This change is something we have hoped for and is something we know we must continue to struggle for.
Accomplishments
The first piece of legislation signed by President Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which gives workers greater power to win damages against companies who for reasons of race, gender, religion, national origin or disability pay unequal wages.
The second piece of legislation President Obama signed into law was the State Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization law, which expanded the SCHIP health care program to cover an additional 4 million children who lack health care coverage.
In addition, Obama has signed into law what has been described as the largest land conservation bill in US history, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which contains over 150 separate bills covering land protection and other related initiatives in almost every state.
Also passed was the 2009 federal budget bill that restores a number of social spending priorities vetoed by the Bush administration in 2008 and the centerpiece of the new administration's first 100 days, the Economic Recovery Act.
Obama and his family's presence in the White House is already beginning to transform how Americans see themselves, and how the world sees Americans. Racist ideas and practices are on trial daily, and more and more people are finding them increasingly deplorable.
On non-legislative matters, President Obama ordered a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq and the closure of the US prison camp at Guantanamo. He has exposed and ended Bush-era torture policies, and overhauled US foreign policy, moving it in the direction of diplomacy and a new spirit of mutual cooperation. The Obama administration reversed the long-standing Bush policy of direct interference in Latin America, when it declared US neutrality in the El Salvador's recent presidential election, and Obama stated his intention to work with whichever side won. The Bush administration had previously threatened Salvadorans that if they did not vote for the right-wing candidate, he'd impose severe restrictions on Salvadorans living in the US.
On top of all this, the Obama administration has signaled a thawing in relations with Cuba and two meetings with Cuba diplomats have already taken place. Obama has eased irrational Bush-era hostilities towards Iran and Venezuela as well. The administration's Middle East policies remain unclear, but the Obama administration agrees that a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key to reversing the negative impact of the Bush administration on the region.
On the question of nuclear weapons and international solutions to the climate crisis, the President has sharply turned away from the anti-science and Cold War-style politics of the previous administration. Obama has boldly called for the abolition of the world's nuclear weapons arsenals and has already opened talks with Russia on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). His administration has also signaled support for international treaties on climate change such as the Kyoto Protocol, which George W. Bush constantly disparaged.
The Obama administration has also set the bar much higher in terms of transparency in government, honesty and ethics. After winning the election, Obama immediately ordered his party to stop taking money from political action committees (PACs) and launched a campaign against the corrosive influence of big business lobbyists in Washington who are destroying the substance of democracy.
Obama lifted harsh and punitive Bush-era rules such as the denial of funds to international family planning organizations and restrictions on travel to Cuba by Cuban Americans. The administration also ended corporate-friendly rules allowing environmentally destructive "mountain-top" mining, pollution in the nation’s water supply, and discrimination by health care professionals against women seeking family planning advice and/or contraceptives. The administration also removed Bush-era barriers to FDA approval of over-the-counter emergency contraception (Plan B). Obama reversal of Bush's opposition to stem cell research reflects a commitment to science that gives a green light to major advances in a field that was starved under the previous administration.
In its effort to reset national priorities, the administration has created new White House offices that include the Task Force on Working Families, the Council on Women and Girls, and the Council on Environmental Quality. In addition, President Obama has appointed committed, experienced and progressive labor and environmental leaders to top positions at the Environmental Protection Agency (Lisa Jackson), the Department of Labor (Hilda Solis) and its Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which spent the Bush years criminally understaffed and underfunded (See Donna Vincene Puleio, "Good Jobs, Safe Jobs: Give Workers a Voice for Change"), along with adding new blood to the National Labor Relations Board, the Domestic Policy Council and other vital agencies.
Addressing a direct cause of the current financial collapse – the mortgage crisis – the Obama administration has ordered the federally-owned corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to help homeowners who received loans from them to re-negotiate their mortgages. Through TARP incentives to banks, other mortgage lenders have been ordered to assist homeowners re-negotiate the terms of their mortgage loans. With these two moves, the administration has estimated that as many as 9 million homeowners who face foreclosure could keep their homes and make affordable payments.
Some of the most significant new advances are contained in the president's Economic Recovery Act. This law provides significant increases in Head Start, after school, early education, education improvement, college tuition tax credits and increases in the number and size of Pell Grants for college students. In addition to tens of billions for infrastructure improvements, the Recovery Act saves jobs in schools and community health centers by helping states cover large budget deficits and avoid deep cuts in essential education and health care programs.
Provisions such as these are key to ensuring that economic stimulus funds do not exclusively benefit male-dominated sectors such as construction and trade, but will also protect jobs in areas where women work in significant numbers, education, health care, and state and local government. Top White House economic advisor Christina Romer has described this jobs for women approach as a conscious policy of the administration.
Other Economic Recovery Act funds have already expanded funding for child care and abuse prevention programs, family planning programs, nutrition programs, unemployment benefits, food stamps and WIC (the women, infants and children nutrition program), along with energy and rental assistance to low-income families.
Recovery-oriented tax policies have given working families the largest tax cut in US history and created new credits for first-time home buyers, families with kids in college, and tax incentives to subsidize home weatherization to save on energy costs and decrease usage.
The Recovery Act has made billions available for renewable energy resources and green energy projects, from converting public buses to "clean diesel," to speeding up "Superfund" projects. Recovery Act funds are also a major beginning for the administration's commitment to investments in a "green economy" by subsidizing the rapidly emerging renewable energy sector. In addition, more than $5 billion in Recovery Act funds will launch the creation of a "smart energy grid," a major overhaul that will modernize the electricity grid and promote the energy efficiency necessary for reducing greenhouse gases (see Marc Brodine, "The First 100 Days and the Environment").
The Obama administration has also paved the way for serious reforms in health care, education and climate change by holding White House summits and bringing its reform proposals before the public in Town Hall meetings that promote serious grassroots discussion.
The president's budget, which was passed by Congress on April 30, provides progressive spending priorities for a host of new social programs we have already listed. In addition, the budget provides resources for meaningful health care reform, education reform from top to bottom, and crucial environmental reforms that will finally address climate change. Furthermore, the Obama budget will further shift federal tax policy in a progressive direction – all this year.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
The president has also reaffirmed his commitment to the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
President Obama did not accomplish all of these things just because he is a great leader who has brought change to us through his own will power. Change is coming because of the massive labor and people's movement that brought him into office, made his candidacy and victory possible, and made all these accomplishments necessary and achievable.
Shortcomings
Not surprisingly, the Obama administration's shortcomings are directly traceable to the continuing power and influence of the military-industrial complex and big financial capital. It is on these points that the sharpest class struggle has been waged and will continue to be waged.
It is also important to note that because the Obama administration has been a real ally for working families and democratic-minded people on a host of issues already (as we have detailed above), any attempt to pit the people or the working class against him or his administration is unsound thinking and bad politics. The battle to defeat the forces that hold US foreign and economic policy hostage to the interests of multinational corporations, the military-industrial complex, and the right wing of big capital is something which transcends the presidency.
Let's take a look at some of the shortcomings.
The order to bring US troops home from Iraq contains too many loopholes and isn't quick enough.
The administration's plan to expand military involvement in Afghanistan creates the possibility for escalated US military involvement in Pakistan itself, and overwhelms laudable efforts at diplomatic and humanitarian-aid solutions to the grinding poverty that is increasingly prevalent throughout Central Asia.
The Wall Street bailout policy outlined by the president, although in many ways it originated in the Bush administration and has managed to hamstring the new administration, will cost taxpayers trillions while financially benefiting only the banks and investment firms. Some experts also think the program may not work as expected. The jury is still out on that question. (See Jim Genova, "Geithner’s 100 Days at Treasury").
The president's proposed military budget for 2010 and beyond keeps funding under control, but it still remains far higher than is necessary or justifiable. Military spending under the Obama administration will divert needed resources away from the economic recovery and reforms the president has proposed.
The president has also conceded to the wishes of many in the "intelligence community" by asserting a need to avoid prosecuting Bush era officials for creating and justifying a hideous torture program.
While Obama has ordered the closure of the Guantanamo prison camp, he has not issued similar orders to close the prison camps in Afghanistan like the one at Bagram and those in neighboring countries.
Presidential appointments to key posts in intelligence, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the Treasury Department are concessions to the class interests that have for so long dominated US foreign, financial and economic policy – with catastrophic results for Americans.
While there may be a tendency on the part of some observers to explain away or rationalize these points, the key thing to focus on is whose class interests lie behind the crucial economic and military decisions that are being made. Are they being made in the interest of the American people and the working class, or on behalf of Wall Street financiers and corporate executives?
After these first dizzying 100 days, there is an ongoing, urgent need to fight to transform and strengthen the working class and its allies and fundamentally shift the political balance of forces in the favor of America’s working families. It will take a hard fight and resolute action to ensure that the President's best political options are peace, workers’ rights, a clean and healthy environment, and social justice for all our people.
Challenges ahead of us
This year, the coalition that brought Obama into the presidency will continue to fight hard for:
• A federally-funded public option as part of health care reform
• Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act
• An end to the war in Afghanistan
• A truth commission on Bush-era torture crimes
• Meaningful climate change legislation that reduces greenhouse gas emissions enough to reverse the dangers of global warming
• A 25 percent cut in military spending
• Education reform that provides greater access and quality public education at all grade levels, eliminates the banks from the student loan program, and protects the rights of teachers and staff to organize unions
• Last, but not least, we need meaningful, working-class-oriented banking and financial reforms that put people back to work, save our homes and communities, and protect the future of America’s children.
