“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser
“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser
How do you read the paragraphs you quoted, if not that? Do you think he’s addressing the neolibs when he says “I don’t care how much you love working people” and then scolds them about housing?
I read it as “this is the political reality of the housing situation. If you don’t have a plan to overcome this reality, your ideology isn’t at issue.”
That’s not blaming the “leftists” for NIMBY. That’s stating that NIMBY and zoning laws are what the “leftists” or anyone else who’s trying to get housing for people has to deal with.
When he says “I don’t care how much you love working people” what I think he’s saying is, and I’m going to paraphrase here so bear in mind this is not his actual words but my subjective interpretation; “‘Leftists’ - people who are unable or unwilling to identify as Democrats because they are so pure of ideology and full of naïevite want to help working people but THEY HAVE NO PLAN TO DO SO that doesn’t involve magic hand-waving, or the immediate total restructuring of American democracy itself, and therefore ARE UNABLE TO DO SO. Therefore their very loud pronouncements of love for working people is irrelevant. People who actually love working people find ways to get things done for them.”
So to recap; NIMBY isn’t the fault of evil leftists, it’s just one of the hurdles anyone trying to get housing built needs to overcome, and so-called leftists can yap all day about helping the working class, but if they can’t do anything for them what’s the point?