this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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In 2008 I saw Michelle Obama speak in the 18th and Vine jazz district in Kansas City.
It was electric. She wore red and looked like a million bucks, and the speech was amazing. At the time we all honestly believed the Obamas would be elected with a historic mandate to make real, lasting change.
I remember it fondly, because the Obamas are the same people who caused me to lose faith in our Federal Government. All we got from the first black president was more war, more expensive health care, and one dead terrorist, and he had the power to do so much more.
But did they really have the power to do more? President alone can’t do a whole lot if Congress is fighting them the whole way.
Yes.
He had a supermajority for almost a year. He could have codified Roe. He could have passed ENDA. Those two actions would have made such a huge difference for women and transgender people now, and I think it's important to remember that it was a choice by President Obama not to pursue these things.
They had the supermajority for a grand total of 72 days and spent most of that time getting Obamacare passed, though they also passed stimulus spending and a few other things. Pretty decent job, all in all.
That's an interesting way to frame rewarding the people who crashed the economy.
Another example of something that's framed positively, but in reality, did not deliver. Obamacare is a for-profit health care system, so the access it promises only exists if you can withstand being price-gouged.
But the fact that he had a supermajority at all makes it inexcusable that he didn't codify Roe or pass ENDA. It was an opportunity to make generational change and he simply didn't care to do the work.