While the capitalists, the mass media and many in the progressive movement hope for a lengthy honeymoon period for President-elect Obama, the deteriorating economic situation on the ground floor of society is likely to lead to an increase in independent political organizing in communities across America, especially in the most oppressed communities, where the pain is being felt the most.
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The president-elect’s first appointment was Rahm Emmanuel, a former Clinton White House staffer. Emmanuel has been a central strategist of the pro-war and pro-capitalist policies pursued by Democrats in the post-2006 election Congress.
In the face of the spiraling economic crisis, the president-elect faces a unique contradiction. On the one hand, he has been entrusted by the most powerful people in the country with the duty of managing the capitalist state. On the other hand, Obama rose in the political establishment in part by promising the people that he would bring about change. In the past few months, “change” has come to mean—in the minds of workers and many others in the country—relief from the economic crisis.
At the same time the corporations intensify their attacks on working people to hold onto and maximize their profits during the recession, working people will be suffering from unemployment, lower wages, attacks on benefits, lack of health care, education cuts and a broad assault meant to force workers to bear the brunt of the crisis. The ruling class will expect Obama, as president, to lead this assault and at the same time defuse mass resistance to it.
In this difficult climate, the Democrats may try to make a few quick moves to prolong the honeymoon and placate their constituency. In this vein, the Obama administration is signaling that it will use executive orders to overturn some Bush-era policies. In a press conference Nov. 7, Obama has said his first priority was the economy and putting people back to work.
Rahm Emmanuel had this to say on the topic when speaking to the Wall St. Journal: “Bucket one would have children’s health care, SCHIP. It has bipartisan agreement in the House and Senate. It’s something President-elect Obama expects to see. Second would be [ending current restrictions on federally funded] stem-cell research. And third would be an economic recovery package focused on the two principles of job creation and tax relief for middle-class families.”
Attempting to end a few conservative ideological provisions, creating jobs, cutting taxes and doing something on health care make up the broad agenda of what Democratic politicians say they want to do. Deciding the exact mix of how much should be spent on infrastructure, how big tax cuts should be, and how far to push on health care almost guarantees that there will be heated debate around any major piece of legislation.
The capitalist media has been making a lot of noise about the need to avoid too much “new spending.” This call has found a strong echo chamber in Congress. While there is a group of more liberal members urging for a faster push on issues such as taxing the rich and passing pro-worker labor laws, the majority of Democrats have conservative and “moderate” positions. The conservatives are talking about cutting social spending to balance the budget. The moderates are cautioning about “moving too fast” on progressive issues. The future Obama White House has given similar signals, meaning major progressive legislation will likely not be forthcoming from the incoming administration.
All of the posturing taking place in Washington right now really boils down to a fairly simple formula: The Democrats and Republicans in government are primarily concerned with the welfare of the banks and Wall Street, not working people. In recent months, they have given the failing banks, insurance companies and automakers $2.3 trillion in new capital, loans and loan guarantees, while allowing the capitalist-imposed hurricane of layoffs, home foreclosures and evictions to continue its devastation without any real opposition.
Regardless of the fact that Barack Obama will be president and the Democrats will have an expanded majority in Congress, the unfolding economic crisis is forcing the ruling class and its servants in Washington into a much more difficult period than it has faced in decades. Continued ruling-class oppression, failures, in-fighting and corruption will likely lead to a much greater understanding amongst large parts of the population of the gross injustices and inadequacy of capitalist rule.
The upcoming period will provide openings for genuinely progressive and revolutionary forces to help lead more assertive and more broad-based political struggles that are rooted in the need to reverse and defeat decades of anti-worker government and employer attacks. Ever-increasing numbers of working-class people are losing everything and facing economic ruin. Looming struggles over issues like health care and unemployment will become much more pressing for millions of people.
Many people in the United States—especially people who have the least to lose and the most to gain by intensifying their struggle—will go through a period where they hope that the changes they need will come from the historic election of Barack Obama, the first Black president in a brutally racist country.
This does not change the fact that now, more than ever, struggles that can win economic relief, social services and progressive reform are badly needed. The fight for various reforms can also serve to further expose the nature of the capitalist system and its hostility to the interests of working and oppressed people. Struggle reveals that the only way to win and preserve gains is to replace the capitalist system with one that is oriented towards the needs of workers, not profits.
