1. The Citizens United Decision Enshrines Corporate Power

When the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in January that corporations are persons and can spend unlimited amount of funds from their treasuries to tell people to vote for Candidate A and not to vote for candidate B, any hopes for democracy began to fade. Fortunately, a grassroots effort arose to amend the Constitution and overturn this decision. See movetoamend.org and freespeechforpeople.org.

2. Schism Widens Between Obama and Much of His Progressive Base

Disappointment turned to fury for many progressives when Obama compromised on health care reform and then caved in on the Bush tax cuts. During the year, Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel,” called progressives “f’ing retarded” for criticizing conservative Democrats on health care. Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said the “professional left . . . ought to be drug tested” for comparing Obama to Bush.

3. Obama Triples Down in Afghanistan, Expands War to Pakistan

The Nobel Peace Prize-winner tripled the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and increased drone attacks and special ops in Pakistan.

4. Anti-immigrant Sentiment Rises

Led by Arizona, the xenophobia against immigrants from south of the border intensified. A judge threw out the most outrageous part of SB 1070, but Arizona’s ban on teaching Ethnic Studies goes into effect right now.

5. The Economy Works for the Wealthy Only

The two economies of the United States couldn’t have been clearer in 2010. Unemployment still stood at 9.8 percent at year’s end, with 15 million Americans officially out of work, and millions more unofficially. Millions of homes remained in the foreclosure process. Wages remained stagnant or fell. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 were up 14%, and Wall Street bathed itself in bonuses.

6. Obama’s Health Care Reform Brings Only a Dose of Relief

Obama played progressives for chumps on health care reform, taking single payer off the table and then dangling the public option in front of us only then to yank it away. Pharmaceutical and insurance companies won big. But the law does outlaw discrimination against people with prior conditions, prohibits rescissions (though there is a loophole), provides Medicaid coverage for single poor adults, expands community health centers, and gradually closes the donut hole on prescription drugs for people on Medicare. Unfortunately, most of the good stuff doesn’t start until 2014.

7. Obama Assaults Civil Liberties

By asserting the Presidential prerogative to assassinate U.S. citizens abroad to hold detainees indefinitely without trial, Obama rivaled Bush for his contempt for civil liberties. Obama did not reform the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, or the NSA spying law to make them less repressive. And his FBI went after solidarity activists in Chicago and the Twin Cities in September on the sweeping allegation of providing “material support” to terrorist groups.

8. Obama Delivers on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

The high water mark for the President came late in December when he delivered on his promise to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” At the signing ceremony, Obama was his most inspirational self.

9. BP Spill Shows Hazards of “Extreme Oil”

Watching one oil company almost destroy an entire sea for 87 days was certainly among the biggest nightmares of the year. It came just weeks after Obama vouched for the safety of deep-sea drilling and proposed doing more of it. And it highlighted the risks of “extreme oil” that Professor Michael Klare of Hampshire presciently warned about.

10. Haiti Earthquake and the Vultures of Disaster

The crushing blow to Haiti, which took the lives of 230,000 people, was compounded by the inadequacy of the response. Washington sent troops when it should have sent backhoes. Then the international community raised billions of dollars in aid, almost all of which never got delivered, as Ezili Danto of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network pointed out.

11. The Rise of the Tea Parties

The tea party movement did not fade away in 2010, as some expected. Instead, it flexed its muscles, taking down mainstream Republicans and bringing Rand Paul and Marco Rubio to the Senate. Sarah Palin, the darling of the tea partiers, saw her stock options appreciate.

12. Noam Chomsky Warns of Fascism in America

The leading leftwing intellectual in the United States warns that the clouds of fascism are gathering here at home. Chris Hedges, Naomi Wolf, and Rep. John Hall echo the warning.

13. Democrats Get Trounced at the Polls

Because Obama did not do enough to shore up the economy, and because the Republicans were so united in their efforts to obstruct him every step of the way, the voters took their anger out especially on incumbent Democrats. Progressives mourned the losses, especially of Rep. Alan Grayson and Sen. Russ Feingold.

14. Obama Caves on Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich

After making the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich a major issue, Obama eventually caved, and even wrapped an early Christmas present for the wealthiest with the reduction of the estate tax. Only Bernie Sanders rose, literally, to the occasion and gave us an old-fashioned filibuster that would have made Jimmy Stewart or Huey Long happy.

15. Senate Ratifies New Start Treaty

Obama scores a victory here, as the Senate agrees to limit strategic warheads for Russia and Washington and resume inspections. Better than nothing, but this is not disarmament, and nukes remain on hair-trigger alert.

16. Israeli/Palestinian Talks Collapse

This Onion headline should not have surprised anyone. Netanyahu’s obstinacy and Israel’s rightwing politics reduced the odds of an accord to virtually nil, even after Obama offered him the store.

17. World Powers Abdicate on Global Warming

At Copenhagen, the United States and, to a lesser degree, China prevented the U.N. summit from setting any mandatory limits on carbon pollution. Efforts by developing nations, led by Bolivia, and by activists around the world offered some solace, but the atmosphere continued to heat up and extreme weather events multiplied.

18. Justice John Paul Stevens Resigns; Elena Kagan confirmed.

He started out as a moderate Republican, but Justice John Paul Stevens proved to the staunchest liberal on the Supreme Court over the last fifteen years. His opinions on the limits of Presidential power even in times of war will endure. Obama chose to replace him with Elena Kagan, who may turn out to be more sympathetic to the Executive Branch.

19. Wikileaks and the Hostility toward Information

More shocking than the revelations in the documents was the reaction by many in punditland and power who wanted to see Julian Assange assassinated or treated as an enemy combatant or charged under the Espionage Act. God forbid in a democracy that the citizenry is allowed to know what its government is doing.

20. The Death of Howard Zinn

The author of A People’s History of the United States was an inspiration for three generations of progressive activists. His voice lives on.

If you liked this story by Matthew Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine, check out his story "John Conyers Goes After Corporate Criminals."

Follow Matthew Rothschild @mattrothschild on Twitter