Among the observations Christian Roselund makes in this excellent essay about Huey Long's impact on Depression era politics is the disturbing absence of a similar focus of pressure from the left on Obama.
Obama’s presidency is very different from Roosevelt’s not only in that he has already embraced job creation and deficit-spending policies reminiscent of the second New Deal, but also in that there is no significant pressure from the left. There is no Huey Long in America today, nor do radical elements in labor have the power they did in the 1930s. If oppressed groups take action, such as immigrants filling the streets of major cities on May 1, 2006, they typically do so only for a day. This low level of pressure means that Obama's policies will likely be pulled to the right and watered down, as was evidenced in the version of his stimulus package that the Senate produced.
In fact it's far worse than that. The current state of American politics is constructed in such a way that allows for populist insurrection from the right only. Much of it, of course, is "faux populism" generated by talk radio entertainers and then pushed into prominence by an idiotic mainstream media in search of "balance". But the effect on policy is as powerful as what a genuine shit-stirrer like Long could generate, if not more so.
For much of the 20th Century, Louisiana had a proud tradition of producing effective liberal rabble rousers unlike any other place in the country. Today, our most popular politicians appear to be Bobby Jindal and David Vitter. How far have we fallen and why? Of course I have my theories, but those are for another post. I'm trying to lay off of the Dragonslayers and Yuppie Lefties for now... or at least until they start trying to tell me I need to vote for Arnie Fielkow.
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