OBAMA; HE CAN SHOOT BUT CAN WE SCORE?
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| Also listed in: Appalachian Populists | Interfaith Peace Coalition | Licking County Pro-Active Citizens (www.licopac.org) | Perry County Democratic Forum |
Progressives have been playing defense so long that now, when they're finally back on offense with a new quarterback, they're not sure they can score.
"We're still in the glow, but I'm afraid we don't see the challenges ahead of us," said Ellen Nissenbaum today at the annual meeting of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), the Quaker lobby in Washington D.C.
Nissenbaum, a one-time FCNL intern, is now legislative director of the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She speaks as an ardent advocate for strengthening the social safety net for the poor and lower middle class, groups usually without representation in the Capitol money chase.
Whether incoming president Barack Obama will delight or disappoint his progressive base will probably become clearer once he submits his first budget next year. Despite campaign pledges to end the Iraq war and extend relief to most taxpayers, Nissenbaum said she doesn't expect Obama to make much progress on reducing the record deficits piled up during the Bush administration.
Pressure is already growing for Obama to increase military spending, she said, and it's not possible to pay for this as well as increased domestic spending just by allowing Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy to expire over 2009-2011. "If we're looking for fast changes under Obama, I don't think we'll get them," she said.
FCNL Director Joe Volk, an Ohio native, agreed in part, but still is encouraged by the long-term opportunities presented by the Obama election and Democratic resurgence in Congress.
"We are at a moment of history where it is increasingly clear, based on our recent experiences, that war is not the answer," said Volk. "Yet Congress," he added, "wants more military spending."
Rep. Barney Frank, he said, has proposed a 25 percent cut in the Pentagon budget. "But that's not likely to happen in the next few year," said Volk.
Still, FCNL and other progressive and anti-war groups are now hoping to achieve legislative goals out-of-reach during the Bush years.
One priority, for example, would be Senate ratification of the long-stalled Nuclear Weapons Test Ban Treaty. Another would be to push the new administration -- and Congress -- to undertake serious diplomatic talks with Iran.
"Our work in the last few years has been in the mode of preventing bad things from happening," said Volk. "Now we may be in a position to support positive initiatives..."
"We're still in the glow, but I'm afraid we don't see the challenges ahead of us," said Ellen Nissenbaum today at the annual meeting of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), the Quaker lobby in Washington D.C.
Nissenbaum, a one-time FCNL intern, is now legislative director of the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She speaks as an ardent advocate for strengthening the social safety net for the poor and lower middle class, groups usually without representation in the Capitol money chase.
Whether incoming president Barack Obama will delight or disappoint his progressive base will probably become clearer once he submits his first budget next year. Despite campaign pledges to end the Iraq war and extend relief to most taxpayers, Nissenbaum said she doesn't expect Obama to make much progress on reducing the record deficits piled up during the Bush administration.
Pressure is already growing for Obama to increase military spending, she said, and it's not possible to pay for this as well as increased domestic spending just by allowing Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy to expire over 2009-2011. "If we're looking for fast changes under Obama, I don't think we'll get them," she said.
FCNL Director Joe Volk, an Ohio native, agreed in part, but still is encouraged by the long-term opportunities presented by the Obama election and Democratic resurgence in Congress.
"We are at a moment of history where it is increasingly clear, based on our recent experiences, that war is not the answer," said Volk. "Yet Congress," he added, "wants more military spending."
Rep. Barney Frank, he said, has proposed a 25 percent cut in the Pentagon budget. "But that's not likely to happen in the next few year," said Volk.
Still, FCNL and other progressive and anti-war groups are now hoping to achieve legislative goals out-of-reach during the Bush years.
One priority, for example, would be Senate ratification of the long-stalled Nuclear Weapons Test Ban Treaty. Another would be to push the new administration -- and Congress -- to undertake serious diplomatic talks with Iran.
"Our work in the last few years has been in the mode of preventing bad things from happening," said Volk. "Now we may be in a position to support positive initiatives..."
