Naiveté Scene
July 11, 2008 by Jet
Frequently, I’ll come across a comment on a blog or news article where the commenter is obviously a political newbie. “Let’s all boycott so and so, that will get their attention”, or “If Hillary doesn’t win, I’m voting for McCain”, or “Obama betrayed us, he’s moving to the middle”. Reactionary dismay is as good a term as any for it. What it isn’t is politically astute. Like anything, politics has formulaic qualities. However, today’s uniformed commenter is tomorrow’s politically savvy citizen, so while I see things they don’t, I’m glad they are engaging in the conversation.
That line of tolerance stops at pundits.
Pundits are not politically stupid. They see, evaluate, and dissect; it’s not unreasonable to expect they get the game.
Bob Herbert has an article up on the Times site today. He is unhappy with Obama’s tack to the center. It’s too much that Obama is talking to the Fundies, doesn’t despise Scalia, and took a middle position on the FISA snafu (which I agree with him on, but I see the mechanism behind it). He’s claiming the base is in an uproar.
Yawn.
The base is ALWAYS in an uproar post primary. The candidates ALWAYS move to the middle and reach out to the other side pre election. This is how you WIN. Once you win, and hopefully win the down ticket races as well, you get to work and start governing. Then you get to put the real meat on the table, the stuff you think is going to move the country.
Mr. Herbert, et al, do you really think that if George W. Bush, with a full boat congress, didn’t hand the Fundies their platform, that Obama will? Please.
If that’s the case, pick up your pundit toys and go home. We’ve got an election to win.
Crossposted at Bring It On!
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Actually, Obama’s position on FISA switched from the center to the extreme right, as did his position on hate based initiatives to switch government funds from inclusive charities to religious ones.
The shift to the right after the primary season strategy hasn’t worked that well for Democrats. Trying the same failed strategy over and over makes no sense.
As we have seen with the current “Democratic” Congress, there really isn’t that much difference between the two major parties in terms of substance. The war gets more money; ENDA is being sabotaged; wiretapping political opponents was approved; the absolute constitutional obligation to impeach Bush and Cheney was dismissed; and I’m sure you could come up with literally dozens of items to add to the list.
There is a major conflict between short term priorities and long term ones for liberals. In the short term, it makes sense to go along with the Democrats no matter how awful they are because the Republicans will always be even worse. In the long run, this strategy keeps our country stuck by letting Democrats take us for granted and by choking out a real opposition party.
If we want to get beyond the same terrible situation every year, we need to become swing voters between the Democrats and the Greens. Liberals are losing the game by playing it because it is rigged by corporate interests and religious extremists. If we want change, we have to change the rules of the game.
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