Whose Side is the White House On? is the headline give to this talk by James K. Galbraith to the Americans For Democratic Action on November 20, 2010.  This was before we  knew about the Obama tax capitulation.

Recovery begins with realism and there is nothing to be gained by kidding ourselves. On the topics that I know most about, the administration is beyond being a disappointment. It’s beyond inept, unprepared, weak, and ineffective. Four and again two years ago, the people demanded change. As a candidate, the President promised change. In foreign policy and the core economic policies, he delivered continuity instead. That was true on Afghanistan and it was and is true in economic policy, especially in respect to the banks. What we got was George W. Bush’s policies without Bush’s toughness, without his in-your-face refusal to compromise prematurely. Without what he himself calls his understanding that you do not negotiate with yourself.

It’s a measure of where we are, I think, that at a meeting of Americans for Democratic Action, you find me comparing President Obama unfavorably to President George W. Bush.

He goes on to fault the set of advisers and administrators that Obama chose for his administration.

The president deprived himself of any chance to develop a narrative from the beginning by surrounding himself with holdover appointments from the Bush and even the Clinton administrations: Secretary Geithner, Chairman Bernanke, and, since we’re here at Harvard, I’ll call him by his highest title, President Summers. These men have no commitment to the base, no commitment to the Democratic Party as a whole, no particular commitment to Barack Obama, and none to the broad objective of national economic recovery that can be detected from their actions.

I think back to the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  In Hillary we would have had the tough fighter, but one who did not really understand what she was fighting for.  In Barack Obama we seemed to have a person who really knew what we were fighting for, but he turns out to be one who doesn’t have much fight.

I wonder if some of the international policy decisions come from Hillary Clinton’s toughness in fighting for the wrong policies that contradict what Obama ran on.

I frequently remind myself that I think I may have myself financially protected enough that perhaps I won’t suffer too much if the country collapses while I am still around.  There is not much I can do after that.  A stiff deflation might actually help me with my zero long term debt policy.