Sunday, October 28, 2012

Why it is essential that Barack Obama be reelected

David Seaton's News Links
No matter what you may feel or think about Barack Obama, no matter how disappointed you may be by his failure to live up to the promises he made in 2008 or the hope he inspired four years ago; it is essential for every progressively minded American to do what they can to keep Mitt Romney out of the White House. The only instrument the American people possess in this case is their vote and the only realistic alternative to Romney is to reelect Barack Obama.
The following clipping from TPM by Sahil Kapur, explains the situation perfectly.
A potential Mitt Romney presidency carries huge implications for the Supreme Court that have conservatives excited and progressives fearful about the future. Liberal-leaning Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 79, and Steven Breyer, 74, are likely candidates for retirement during a Romney administration. The GOP nominee has vowed to appoint staunch conservatives, and the influential conservative legal community will make sure he follows through. Replacing even one of the liberal justices with a conservative, legal scholars and advocates across the ideological spectrum agree, would position conservatives to scale back the social safety net and abortion rights in the near term. Over time, if a robust five-vote conservative bloc prevails on the court for years, the right would have the potential opportunity to reverse nearly a century of progressive jurisprudence. For all those reasons, conservative legal activists anticipate that a Romney win would be the culmination of their decades-long project to remake the country’s legal architecture.(...) a Romney presidency — even a one-term presidency — would pose a slow-release threat to key progressive accomplishments, and why small-government conservatives view his candidacy as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. (emphasis mine) Sahil Kapur - TPM
The idea of wiping out all the progress made in over a lifetime of legislation and rulings... a veritable coup d'etat by the most reactionary elements in America, is truly too horrible to contemplate. DS

1 comment:

stunted said...

Hurricane Sandy seems to have single-handedly ensured Obama's re-election by highlighting the usefulness of national government assistance in the wake of disaster. Climate change will still be taboo as a (inter)national problem screaming to be dealt with, as that would oblige Americans to radically alter the American way of life, but folks seem to like FEMA when it alleviates their personal suffering. Romney and, to a greater extent, Ryan have been unmasked by Sandy as people who cannot be trusted to look out for the concerns of common people; their focus is only on the bottom line, a zone devoid of compassion.