Good Left Hook

Let’s be honest about this: Barack Obama has lost the trust of many American liberals. His policies have not been the hoped-for dramatic departure from the agenda of George W. Bush.

Let’s be practical too, though. An election is not about getting exactly what you want. In a nation of over 300 million people, we have to choose the best of the available choices. In the 2012 presidential election, though Barack Obama is flawed, he’s preferable to the other choices.

The pro-Obama bumper sticker you see here is communicating that idea, I think. It’s features the same symbol used in the 2008 presidential election by Barack Obama, but this time, in the year 2012.

I see that symbol as a sun that’s rising again. It’s a symbol of reintroduction for liberals to Barack Obama. We’ve been through a dark night with Barack Obama, and Obama did a lot to let us down, but, as dark as the night was, Obama wasn’t the biggest of our problems, and Obama does make things brighter, he does make things better, than a Republican candidate can.

Obama is not really what we want, but he’s what we’ve got. Can we work with that?

This May 17, California voters in the 36th congressional district in California will have a chance to elect a new U.S. Representative – and to correct the dysfunctional politics that Republicans have introduced to the U.S. Congress. Here we are, facing a shutdown of the American government – not by terrorists, but by Republicans who are insisting upon taking away the social safety net from working Americans.

In this special election, there’s one candidate who is consistently standing up against the Tea Party radicalization of American politics: Marcy Winograd.

Winograd announced today, “The gloves are off, with the GOP leadership declaring open warfare on America’s greatest safety nets for seniors. We need Democrats in Congress who are going to stand strong against these Republican attacks.”

We don’t need to wait until 2012 to take a stand against dangerous right wing politics in Congress. With Marcy Winograd’s help, we can take that stand today.

I’m with Winograd for Congress in 2011

President Barack Obama announced yesterday that he will run for re-election in 2012. The response from America’s community of liberal activists was quite different from what it was in 2008. This time around, liberal activists aren’t clamoring to volunteer, donate and otherwise help Barack Obama. This time, political liberals are wondering whether it’s worth it to help Barack Obama at all.

Barack Obama has brought America into yet another war. He’s given tax cuts to billionaires. He’s continued George W. Bush’s attacks against the Constitution. He’s failed to pass climate legislation and presided over the expansion of offshore drilling, in spite of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. With a Democratic President like this, who needs Republicans?

A new t-shirt, made in the USA and sold at Skreened, expresses this dissatisfaction: Liberals Against Obama 2012… fool me once… A picture of the tshirt is featured in the Liberals Against Obama video seen below:

O in O 2012. BO OK 12? What ever does this code mean? Think of them as Tweets for the political battle to come.

The basic message: Oklahoma voters favor Barack Obama for re-election as President in 2012.

People like to get a political message out in short form, of course, and a political button is a good way to do that too – sort of the original Facebook posting… or maybe a chestbook posting?

So, here’s a campaign button for Oklahoma Democrats as we get nearer to the 2012 presidential election: Oklahoma Supports Barack Obama 2012.