The tears are flowing in lefty land.
Via IBD:
Most of the nation’s top liberal groups have convened in Washington this week for the Campaign for America’s Future’s annual conference, this year dubbed Take Back the American Dream. A major theme of the gathering is their disappointment in President Obama.
As Robert Borosage, co-director of the campaign and a key organizer of the event, put it in a speech this morning:
“Everyone in this crowd, I’m certain, has had their disappointments and their frustrations with this White House. From bailing out the big banks without reforming them, to failing to stand strong on jobs, on climate and many other issues to extending a war and now asserting national security prerogatives that simply trample the Constitution. But our challenges are much greater than the shortcomings of this president.
Remember when he came into office, Obama put forth reforms in areas we have to address: Energy, health care, financial reform, the recovery. Now those reforms were too cautious to my mind. They were pre-compromised if you will. But despite the crisis, despite the popular mandate, despite Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress, he got his head handed to him. And we know why: money politics. The entrenched corporate interests that have been running this place were able to build Republican obstructionism with a sufficient number of Democrats to defend their privileges and self-interest.”
Borosage’s remarks were warmly greeted. Others at the CAF event expressed similar sentiments. Van Jones, the event’s keynote speaker, said that “This has been a tough couple of years. We cannot get up here and lie and say everything has been cool. We went from hope to heartbreak in about a minute.”