Monday, August 8, 2011

Can Progressives save the Democratic Party from Itself?

An Op-Ed piece in the August 6 New York Times, What Happened to Obama? lays out the challenge facing my Democratic Party.   Author Drew Western discusses the lack of narrative which ultimately leads him down a path that I can't disagree with.  "Like most Americans," he says, "at this point, I have no idea what Barack Obama — and by extension the party he leads — believes on virtually any issue."

I forwarded the important article to a number of associates not afraid to call themselves Progressive Democrats and suggested it may be up to us to help rescue the party from itself.  What can we, as Progressives and the core of the belief system of the Democratic Party, do to help the party regain a focus, re-discover a sense of being, and couple it with a sense of urgency?

As the article began to get passed around, strong and blinder-eye'd Obama supporters began to chime in and, as frequently happens, take a defensive posture.  The "you're either with us or against us" approach reared up -- a common thread among many members of the DNC and leadership within the party.

I say this:  "There are none so blind as those who will not see."

The Obama camp seems incapable of separating criticism from opposition or disappointment.  They seem to be unable to appreciate a point in the NYT column discussing confusion over what the center wants and questioning what we, as Democrats, really believe in or stand for.

One avid supporter shot back how she worked hard to get the President elected (as if others of us didn't).  She cited a list of accomplishments by the President, which took up the bulk of her reply, but failed to mention that the list,  100 Accomplishments of President Barack Obama, had been posted on Facebook more than a year earlier.   An original list would've been more meaningful than a cut-and-paste job.  Also less than helpful was being told that "citizens that watch carefully will notice that President Obama has amassed an amazing list of accomplishments."   Yes, the list is amazing, but not all for the right reasons.  I do watch carefully, and I won't be talked down to.

At the heart is a disconnect that still surrounds the Presidents camp, namely the campaign arm for 2008, Obama for America, which was allowed to morph into a DNC-supported "Organizing for America" post election and has now morphed back into Obama for America.  If you were a Democrat involved in Colorado politics pre-OFA, it was clear to you how the campaign strategy SHUT OUT the base of the Democratic Party.  

We saw it when livid county chairs would talk on conference calls about how frustrated they were with OFA who refused to engage outside of the Presidential campaign.  It later became clear to me, and many others, (and was pointed out in Ari Bermans' fine book, "Herding Donkeys,") how post-election OFA wanted to create a legion who would  blindly support whatever the President did.  We saw its destructive behavior in our own 2010 US Senate race, which left the State House in ruins and cost many good elected Democrats their positions.   And we all knew, we KNEW, when Rahm Emanuel was made Chief of Staff that brides walking down the aisle were having second thoughts before the marriage was consummated.   Through Emanuel, OFA turned into a top-down directive-driven organization and people who thought they were making a difference were finding out that they weren't.

Missing from the Obama proponents' argument was a simple truth:  Empathy.  “I understand how you might feel; what can we do to better earn your support?”

The DNC still doesn’t get  how the Tim Kaine email I frequently cited last year stating “we decided to change the Democratic Party,” said more about the President and the people of the party leadership than any other single signal sent to the rank and file:  We know more than you.  We are the leaders and your job is to follow.  We don’t have to listen.

Anyone who listened to the Obama press conference the Friday before the debt deal would find little relief when hearing the President say “we need to ignore the activists” on both sides.  I wanted to vomit.  Did he really say that? (Yes)

Anyone can just glance at the list of 100 and see disappointments:

Iraq.  Responsibly end the war?  That’s a matter of opinion.  We’re still there.
Making Home Affordable.  Personal Experience.  Ill-conceived and poorly implemented.
Ordered closure of Guantanamo.  Yes, that’s worked well.
Changed failing Afghanistan strategy.  Yes.  For another failing Afghanistan strategy.
Signed the CARD Act.  Yes, which gave credit card companies plenty of lead time and an excuse to raise and sustain usury interest rates.  Michael Bennet told me he agreed with me that the legislation didn’t do what it was intended to.  (See CDP Platform on Interest Rates).

Shall we add:  Illegally went into Libya?
Shall we add:  Cowered to the GOP and never really took true interest in appointing Elizabeth Warren the head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?  It took a YEAR to appoint anyone. 
Shall we add:  Stayed surprisingly silent while Wisconsin workers were thrown to the wolves?  (And now some labor unions have said they will withhold money from the DCCC and DNC)?

I know, those three items are small potatoes.  War, protecting consumers and supporting workers?  Meaningless.  (Yes, my tongue is in my cheek). 

And then there is that ridiculous “birther” stuff that inappropriately captured the attention of a large percentage of the Right.  It begs a different question:  Remember when they finally released the official “official, long form” birth certificate?  While I never doubted his US birth, it made me wonder:  why didn’t they put that out in the first place instead of letting the issue fester?  I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking the administration seemed foolish, indecisive, and indifferent.   On something as simple as where the President was born, it took more than a year (or two?) to put a nail into it.  Why?

Do I want Obama to succeed?  HELL YES!

But he has to act like a Democrat first, and that’s something he’s been missing.  If he doesn’t figure it out soon, we might just have to say goodbye to the middle class.  A primary challenger might get his attention as little else seems to have.

The clock is winding down.

The Progressives are sitting on the bench and they need to get into the game.  If the coach won’t ask us to play, than we need to bring it on ourselves. 


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