Where Do Obama and the RPM Go From Here?

Where do President Obama and the Radical Progressive Movement (RPM) go from here? Well, over the weekend I reread E.J. Smith’s excellent series on the inside, non-vetted group of radical czars who advise our president. And I went through the work of Obamasphere folk Cass Sunstein and Robert Creamer. (Preliminary work for the Creamer travesty Stand Up Straight was done in the joint—yup, the Terra Haute Indiana lock up.) I thought it was a nice touch for Robert to thank his colleagues at the slammer for their support. Creamer’s progressive manifesto is all about how progressives can win. His “Priorities for Action” chapter kicks off on page number 577 of Stand Up Straight. Mr. Creamer writes that “a long-term realignment requires both a sustainable electoral majority and the reframing of American political dialogue.” Creamer outlines 18 priorities for progressives. Number 5 on the Creamer list is “We need to remember that people vote for people not ideas, or issues.” I agree, and conservatives should stamp this thought on their refrigerators. Number 6 says that resources must be focused on building lasting, mass-based organizations for campaigns. Lovely outfits like MoveOn.org, USAction, and Americans United for Change are cited as models. And the campaign to stop privatization of social security is cited as the model showing how it can be done. In priority action #8, Mr. Creamer talks about the battle over the distribution of income (yours, of course—after all, Robert wasn’t going to be able to distribute a lot from his slammer remuneration, now was he?). Also in #8, Creamer writes about supporting the unionization of the workforce and promoting control of government at all levels in the U.S. In #10, Creamer writes, “polls show popular support for universal health care at massive levels.” I don’t think so, Robert, but OK. Creamer tells his progressive mavens that “The [health-care] proposal should be clear and elegant.” Oops, I think Reid and Pelosi missed this one. I doubt that even Creamer had a Cornhusker Kickback and 2000-plus-page monstrosity on his mind.

OK, so that’s but the tip of the iceberg on Mr. Creamer’s progressive manifesto. Cass Sunstein, the darling of the self-proclaimed liberal intellectuals wants a second Bill of Rights and outlines this far-left lunacy in a book of the same name. At the start, Mr. Sunstein refers to (yup) Franklin Delano Roosevelt as America’s greatest leader, perhaps forgetting George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. So much for this top-level advisor to the president.

As misguided and dangerous as the above two books are, there is nothing quite like Saul D. Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. On page 3, Saul kicks off by saying, “Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.” He continues, “In this book we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people.” Mr. Alinsky writes, “This means revolution.” Moving on briskly, Saul writes on page 63, “The building of many mass power organizations to merge into a national popular force cannot happen without many organizers.” As examples of such organizations and organizers, he offers a nifty group including the Panthers (as in Black), radical philosophers, and SDS.

So you get the overall slant of what the RPM is all about. And who is the national spokesperson and moving force for all I have outlined above? Why, our president, Barack Obama. Every American is welcome to his or her opinion, and that of course includes the gentlemen whose views I have shared with you. Last week at Richardcyoung.com, I shared a video of a speech our president gave to Service Employees International Union (SEIU) employees. That video is at the top of the page now. Give it your full attention.

In the above objective critique, I have not given you my opinion. Rather, I have summarized in direct presentations and quotes the views of those aligned with the RPM. I do, however, have an opinion, which could be outlined in two words. I’ll let you fill in the blanks.

I’m writing to you today with the goal of suggesting which way our president is heading from here, given the massive scale of the health-care debacle and the election of Scott Brown. Barack Obama was put up to advance the cause of the RPM, pure and simple. And the movement is not for one second going to slam on the brakes. What I can assure you is that the climate is about to turn ugly as progressives, including president Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, have been dealt a ferocious body blow. Reid, for his efforts, will face annihilation in November. Were Pelosi running in any district except the progressive capital of the world, San Francisco, she surely would too. As for President Obama, if a new election were held today, he’d get crushed. Remember when the president was out campaigning in 2008? Glenn Beck had not begun the charge that today impacts 30 million fed-up-to-the-gizzard Americans a month. In the last election, Senator McCain was ahead in the polls until the Lehman Brothers fiasco. McCain kept things interesting, with only hold-your-nose interest at best from conservatives. McCain had no help from Rush, and the Glenn Beck express had yet to roll. A speaker better than President Obama backing a full-scale conservative menu will garner the support of Rush, Beck, and a wide array of other well-positioned conservative influentials. It will be a brand new day