196
The people yearn for platitudes (thelemmy.club)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [M] to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net
58 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 94 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

As infuriating as the conclusion is, I think the premise is actually worse somehow

making goals materialistic and instrumental

When the hell did they do that?! All I can remember was: contextphobic "Brat summer, genocide, and lie"

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
    •
  • [–] 33 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    I voted for Obama because I thought he was gonna use the power of the state to help striking workers at the Congress Hotel in Chicago and was gonna do other things to make it easier to organize unions.

    He didn't do shit.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 15 points 3 weeks ago

    Yep. I remember Scott Walker destroyed collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and Obama did not uphold this promise. It was a very illuminating moment for me as a teenager. I marched in Madison in solidarity with the unions because my parents were both teachers, and Obama (the first president I ever cast a vote for) didn't do jack shit.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    I was living in NYC in 2008, and I remember that when it was announced that they'd officially called the election for Obama, there was an audible cheer across the city. People were literally out dancing and partying in the streets. We really believed he was gonna do some shit other than just drone strike more poor people. Free healthcare, closing Guantanamo, and end to Iraq and Afghanistan wars--he pretty much promised the would and lots and lots of people believed him. It was pretty fucking wild in retrospect.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago

    Yeah, I remember riding my bike around Chicago that evening and people were celebrating all over the place. I don't wanna hear his voice ever again, so I'm definitely not gonna go back and listen to his campaign speeches to remember what he actually said, but he had a lot of us (myself included) thinking we finally had an ally at the top. Absolutely demoralizing.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 27 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    Eh Biden and Kamala did lean into the cost of living stuff, and there was the whole "If you vote for us we'll pay you $600" shit too. A far cry from what Obama is really referring to, which is his 2008-2012 campaigns that were the pinnacle of the immaterial, vibes-based neoliberalism that propelled him through 2 presidencies without much bother.

    Though he'll forget to mention the difficulty in legislating with a contested senate/house given how quickly his vibes fell apart at midterm elections, and how the failures ever since have been from fighting the legacy of his nothing-burger politics.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 18 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    There was a brief moment in the beginning of the campaign where she promised to crack down on compagnies that are price gouging, but that idea abandoned later https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation-65dc8844bb41159d76886f752b6cab28

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •