In 2009, Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire and the Democrat super-majority in the state legislature wrung out a $9 billion deficit through an all-cuts budget, hacking away at everything in sight from education and health care to services for children, the poor, and the elderly. Big business and the rich, by contrast, escaped unscathed – the state’s regressive tax system remained horrendously skewed in favor of corporations like Boeing, Microsoft, Weyerhauser, Amazon, and the rich who own them.

You wouldn’t know it, but a study found that Massachusetts provides the least amount of support for higher education in the entire U.S., (Illinois State University’s Center for the Study of Education Policy in cooperation with the State Higher Education Executive Officers). Usually regarded as one of the top states for quality public education, funding has been slashed for the last five years. Astonishingly, funding has been cut by 37% over the last two years.

Despite defiant declarations to fight on, it’s clear Obama and the Democratic Party’s signature domestic legislation, health care reform - and the hopes of millions for guaranteed health care - are in dire straits.

The National Tea Party Convention, held on February 4-6 in Nashville, was billed as a grassroots gathering of conservative activists against the bank bailouts and Obama’s health care plan. The “grassroots” character of the event, however, was undermined by the $549 price of admission and the heavily publicized lobster banquet.

After a year of demoralization and crisis, suddenly Republicans are optimistic about the 2010 elections. In the wake of Scott Brown’s upset victory in the Massachusetts Senate race and falling poll numbers for Obama and his policies, many commentators are proclaiming a swing back to the right in popular opinion.

In a 5-4 vote in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court has struck down one hundred years of restrictions on corporate spending in election campaigns. On the surface, the Court has posed it as an issue of “rights”. However, at root, the decision is more about the crushing power of corporations in the U.S. More than ever, we need to build a fightback.

“There’s no question this is extraordinary – the worst situation in 50 years.” That’s how Susan Urahn, director of the Pew Center for the States, described the massive budget deficits facing state governments across the country on ABC News. “We saw a $180 billion cumulative budget gap in 2009 and predict the same for 2010.”

Wall Street bonus season has begun again, with billions handed out in bonus pay as banks and investment firms report gigantic 2009 profits.

Unimaginable a few short weeks ago: Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts was won by a Republican. Two months ago, Martha Coakley had a 31 percentage-point lead in polls over the obscure Republican state senator Scott Brown. Most had thought that the real race was over for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat when the Democratic primary ended. After all, the seat had been held by the Democratic Party for over 58 years, most of that time by two brothers with the last name Kennedy. Just over a year ago, Obama had carried Massachusetts by 26%. What happened?

Much has been said about the change promised by Barack Obama prior to his election, and the depressing continuity between his administration and those of Bush and Clinton. During the drawn-out months of his election campaign, there were even some rumblings in right-wing media circles that an Obama presidency would not be “sufficiently” pro-Israel. Comparisons were drawn with Jimmy Carter’s supposedly pro-Palestinian administration, while a false controversy was manufactured in Obama’s friendship with the moderate, and indeed quite uncontroversial, Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi. It is clear, however, that even prior to November 2008, Obama was never going to buck the trend when it came to Washington’s long-term “special relationship” with Israel.

Democratic Governor Chet Culver of Iowa is attempting to implement a 10% ($600 million) across the board cut to the state budget. With the support of both his own party and the Republicans, no program is off limits - Medicare, food stamps, public education and more are all on the chopping block.

The future for working people under capitalism can be seen most sharply by looking at its impact on young people. The recession has accelerated already falling living standards for U.S. youth and hit young people harder than any other section of the population. 16 to 24 year-olds have lost at least 2.5 million jobs since December 2007. As of September 2009, only 46% of youth between 16 and 24 were actually working – the lowest figure on record since 1948 when the government started keeping track of this statistic.

There is a war going on, a war against working people throughout the country, especially in the “failed state” of California.

One year ago, millions of Americans were in the streets cheering the election of Obama as the end of Republican policies and the start of a new era. How quickly these hopes have been dashed.

The Senate Democrats have mustered up a fragile compromise on health reform, defeating a filibuster and moving one step closer to passing the first comprehensive health legislation in decades. But is there anything for working people to celebrate after months of givebacks to the right wing and Wall Street-backed insurance companies?