IS OBAMA A BLUE DOG DEMOCRAT

+ Is Obama a Blue Dog Democrat? If so, my enthusiastic support for him will become a thing of the past. Today's CommonDreams shows how more and more Progressives are getting more and more disillusioned. Here is a sample of articles revealing this growing disillusionment:

• "Obama’s Military Is Spying on US Peace Groups" by Amy Goodman
• "How Obama Betrayed Honduras" by Hugh O'Shaughnessy
• "Obama Faces Carter/Clinton Parallels" by Robert Parry
• "Obama Ignores Torture" by Helen Thomas
• "The Great Miscommunicator" by David Michael Green

Of course, the emotional lift of electing our first African-American President and a candidate who promised "change you can believe in" can never be taken from me and the millions who were elated with his victory last fall. And he is certainly a better President than John McCain would be. But not far better and that's very disappointing. I hope and pray that he will come to embrace a more progressive stance. He may be missing his chance to be a truly historic leader.

My congressional district in upstate New York is represented by Michael Arcuri who has joined the Blue Dog Democrat caucus. He is the only one of 26 Democratic representatives in New York to do so. This is a big disappointment. I was an enthusistic campaigner and celebrated back in November 2006 when he became the first Democrat to represent our district in 50 years. That emotional high can never be taken from me but my enthusiastic support for him has definitely become a thing of the past. On this subject I have written a letter to the editor of the Utica Observer-Dispatch and hope they print it. Here it is:

I was as once an enthusiastic supporter of Representative Michael Arcuri. I donated money and I worked for his election and 2006 and re-election in 2008. I heard he was a Blue Dog even before the 2008 election but I didn’t know much about the Blue Dogs and thought that a few moderate Democrats might be good for the House of Representatives. I’m no longer thinking that way. I urge Representative Arcuri to leave the Blue Dogs behind and climb aboard the Progressive movement which this nation and indeed our planet need so badly right now.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was his recent vote on the Energy bill. I could never be an enthusiastic supporter again if Representative Arcuri continues to vote against the progressive legislation which is needed if we are to have any hope of saving our atmosphere and avoid the catastrophic consequences of the serious atmospheric deterioration already happening and getting worse as the years go by.