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The progressive case against Obama - Salon.com


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There are many good arguments against Obama, even if the Republicans cannot seem to muster any. The civil liberties/antiwar case was made eloquently a few weeks ago by libertarian Conor Friedersdorf, who wrote a well-cited blog post on why he could not, in good conscience, vote for Obama. While his arguments have tremendous merit, there is an equally powerful case against Obama on the grounds of economic and social equity. That case needs to be made. For those who don’t know me, here is a brief, relevant background:  I have a long history in Democratic and liberal politics. I have worked for several Democratic candidates and affiliated groups, I have personally raised millions of dollars for Democrats online, I was an early advisor to Actblue (which has processed over $300 million to Democratic candidates). I have worked in Congress (mostly on the Dodd-Frank financial reform package), and I was a producer at MSNBC. Furthermore, I aggressively opposed Nader-style challenges until 2008.

It's actually a very cohesive argument.

A stronger candidate would have no problem beating Obama.

It's like 1996 when the republicans ran Dole against Clinton.

Got a summary of their argument?

I don't think a stronger candidate exists, which is why said stronger candidate did not run.

The strongest candidate would probably come from the democratic party, e.g. Hillary Clinton or the like.

I think in a second term, we need to see massive cost cutting & tax raises, more investment in *good* education, healthcare, and energy R&D, as well as science, arts.

And for the love of God, cut the military budget in half. We are not in the movie Battleship or fighting World War III; we don't need $1m/day super aircraft carriers. We need more elite special operations forces across the board; seals, devgru, unit/delta force, special forces, rangers, para rescue, force recon.

The Bin Laden hunt should be example #1 why we need to cut the military budget; invest in more intelligence-based operational equipment: e.g. Predator drones, as scary as they are, and less into nuclear submarines and f35 fighter jets and 8 full-time aircraft carriers.

Everyone says "let's make America strong at home," but nobody is willing to do that.

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