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Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Obama's been a decent President, and a lot of the Left's attacks on him for not having done enough on health care, or jailing bankers, or "bringing urrr jobs back" are the usual gripes of those who don't understand how difficult, or impossible, it is to achieve the goals the Left desires.
But in criminal justice reform, there was bipartisan support. Booker and Paul got together to push it forward. The Kochs (for cynical reasons, no doubt) put money behind it. The rare moment where the public has some sympathy for people railroaded by a corrupt, deeply fucked up system appeared, and Obama missed the opportunity to push for reform.
Sure, even for Democrats, it's hard to buck the "tough on crime" idiot voting bloc. But Obama could have done more. And Hillary sure as fuck won't. (She'll suck up to the private prison lobby if it even slightly enhances her war chest for 2020.) The moment's gone, and the criticism Obama blew the best chance for serious reform is quite valid.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
You're missing the point. This is not about getting legislation passed. I just want him to say those things to the public. Sure, it's a kamikaze mission. But it starts the discussion. Booker and Paul have tried to push for crim justice reform and gotten some airtime on the issue. The President could greatly assist in putting the matter more in the realm of urgent public debate.
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I'm sorry, when you talked about "achieving goals" and "bipartisan support" and "reform" and "bucking the idiot voting bloc" and "serious reform", I thought you were talking about passing bipartisan legislation to reform the criminal justice laws, not a kamikaze mission to start the discussion.
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I suspect your cynical view is Obama should not offer such a speech because its lack of success during his term would reflect badly on him. It might in the short term, but over the long term, I think it would be seen as brave and ahead of the curve.
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Ahead of a curve that he and lots of Democrats and moderate Republicans are already on? Wow, good point.
I don't think Obama is being cynical at all. As with gay marriage, I think he understands that sometimes he serves a cause better by not adding his voice to the debate. If you cared about getting something done instead of a kamikaze mission to start a discussion, you would respect that.
