John Cole...
I’ve been as disgusted and let down as many people by some decisions, but I look at where we were and where we are now, and there is no chance in hell I am going to be demoralized come November 2010. I’ve been watching the wingnuts - we need to keep them as far away from power as is legally possible. They are dangerous, and this Obama fellow, despite some letdowns, ain’t half bad.
I'm about up to there with the gaggle of self-styled "progressives" who revel in detailing every Democratic polling downturn, denounce every legislative compromise as a cowardly betrayal of some imagined "netroots" that stands poised for revolution, constantly refer to my political party with dismissive third person terminology and openly advocate the defeat of my Party and it's leaders in the name of their "progress." <
Here's a scoop from the clue bin - progress is hard, change is incremental and for a starving man, half a loaf can save a life. My personal politics are probably considerably to the left of most of the gang I'm talking about. Very little is being done in accord with my personal specifications. Mine, though, is a minority view in America. I'd love to see a Congressional majority that could win on a platform of single payer health care, confiscatory taxation of high incomes and immediate withdrawal from every combat arena we're presently deploying troops to.
I'd love to hit the mega-millions lottery, too. The odds are much better - or would be if I bought a lottery ticket.
This isn't a call for blind acquiescence to Democratic shortcomings. There's a continuing need for critique and correction
within the broad folds of the Democratic Party. I've done my part on that score for decades, at Party meetings, in platform battles and primary contests, and I've seen some actual progress over time as a result of those fights. Open racial bigotry, for instance, has largely been driven from our ranks, and great - if still insufficient - strides have been made on behalf of equal treatment for women and the LGBT community within our ranks. You don't have to have all that much historical perspective to remember a time when those challenges seemed insurmountable. We're about to see health care legislation that, while not enough, will save thousands of lives every year. People are getting fed who would be hungry, housed who woudl be homeless and protected who would be neglected without the efforts of Democrats at every level of government.
The Democratic Party is not a perfect institution made up of perfect individuals. It is, however, in every instance better than the party that would elevate John Boehner to Speaker of the House or Mitch McConnell to Senate Majority leader.
Many, if not most, of the leading voices in that "progressive" cabal won't even claim the title "Democrat," and
at least one has openly admitted that not only is she not a member of the Party, she's not even on the
side of the Democratic Party. In a country that has evolved a two-party system, if you're not on our side, well, which side are you on?
Labels: "Progressives", Congress, Democratic Party, Netroots, President Obama, Republicans
