As we end 2010 The American Prospect has just published The Progressive Agenda Scorecard.

Photo by: (White House/Pete Souza)

Quoting now:

This magazine declared the dawn of 2009 “Our Moment.” The election of Barack Obama and a Democratic majority offered progressives a chance to deal with decades of deferred maintenance on the American dream. Our agenda included tackling long-standing priorities, undoing Bush-era debacles, and taking up new ideas that emerged from both our movement and from Obama himself.
How much was achieved before the 2010 election — and how much is possible in the remaining two years of Obama’s term? As The New York Times notes, “Many liberal activists regularly complain that their most fundamental issues remain largely unaddressed.” Others note that Obama’s first two years were the most productive for a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson.
In the dropdown menu that follows, we take a clear-eyed look at the state of the progressive agenda.

These are the dropdown menus items:

• Regulate Big Banks
• Keep the Internet Open with Net Neutrality
• Ends Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Universal Health Insurance with a Public Option
• Reduce and Secure Nuclear Weapons
• Price Carbon and Reducing Emissions
• RAISE TAXES ON RICH — NOT WORKING FAMILIES
• Reform Immigration Laws
• Invest In Education and School Improvement
• Secure Reproductive Rights
• Repeal Policies That Discriminate Against Gay Americans
• End Torture
• Reform Lobbying, Campaign Finance, and Open-Records
• Repeal Policies That Violate Civil Liberties
• Non-Starters

Bottom line: This is an important article. Every morning we hear that Obama has allowed himself to be pushed too far left by liberal bloggers. Joe should know better. We can expect the right wing noise machine to call President Obama a socialist, etc. The real story is that Obama has a mixed record. He has continued some of the worst policies of the Bush administration. The late lamented imperial presidency lives on.

Guantanamo Bay is still open. The Obama Jutice Department appeals matters the campaign said they would end. The TSA gives us security-theater with hardly any Congressional oversight. Banks are still too big to fail. I think the administration has failed to nurture credible surrogates who would counter right wing misinformation and lies. The administration seems to have given up on the effort to combat climate change.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

We Have Links

Do you remember the old days when the Internet and World Wide Web were not considered to be the same thing? Back then people would create a web site with a links page which might go on and on. Some webmasters would give us a break by producing an anotated list of links.

Comes now the Gypsy Chief Blog. We decided to introduce links slowly and maybe say a few words about each one.

For example realnightmare.org has undergone significant changes as of late. I suggest you log on to see what’s new. RealID seems to me to be the poster child for government boondoggle. My interest in this was sparked when I discovered that the ACLU and The Cato Institute as well as The American Library Association all oppose RealID. CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow has been heard to support RealID but it seems to me his support is based on the notion that people with Real IDs would be first in line at the airport. Sorry, Larry, we can’t all be first in line at the same time. Look for more links coming soon.

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