See, bipartisanship is only for purist, sanctimonious Republicans and Jane Hamsher. It’s not for Democrats who want to reach a consensus on a bill and pass it. Hamsher’s purity demands and sanctimony toward Democrats are not the problem; the problem is that I want Hamsher to stop being a sanctimonious puritan. See how that works?
But wait, there’s more. According to Kevin, Jane Hamsher pushing the public option on her website is a progressive credential. Prior to the passage of health care reform, this blog featured more than seventy posts related to the topic of the public option; so by those lights, I’ve done at least as much as Jane Hamsher. Where is my PAC to milk?
The reality is that eighty-three senators voted for unemployment extension and oligarch tax cuts last night. Eighty-three. Meanwhile, DADT and START sit waiting while the clock runs out. Expiry for the oligarch tax cuts is a winning issue for Democrats in 2012, so the real question is what FireDogLake will do to help. (Answer: shout at Obama some more.)
As for the charge I made yesterday that Hamsher serves another agenda, I would say the net effect of all the bill-killing hoopla is exactly what Republicans just happen to want to do: slow things down and prevent change. Whether by malice or mindlessness, the effect is the same. So I challenge Hamsher not for her style, but her substance — or the lack thereof.
Yeah, some will accuse Matt of circular firing squad tactics. Hamsher's not the bad guy here we should be worrying about in the end, the Republicans are. But we don't have the luxury of political purity, either. If the choice is ideological correctness while Republicans control the political reality, or working with the political reality to affect change towards ideology I'm going with Option B.
And no, as I've said time and time again when the Dems are spineless lumps of putty I call them on it, Obama on down. But this binary worldview of "either we get 100% from Obama or he's worthless, let the Republicans run the country until we get 100% of what we want" is asinine and absurd. Many it seems have lost sight of who the real problem is.
Good for Matt saying what damn well needed to be said a year ago...oh, and Matt was saying it then too.
And for the record, so was I.
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6 comments:
your last point is something of a strawman argument. i voted for obama pretty much expecting a centrist douchebag and the guy still managed to disappoint me. democrats are reduced to passing legislation that isn't all that far removed from stuff the republicans were suggesting 20 years ago. guess what? if i'd wanted that, i'd have voted republican 20 fucking years ago.
For the record, I think enough of the Republicans of 20 years ago would have passed a lot the same legislation today's Republicans are blocking right now.
I voted for Obama expecting a centrist douchebag and got more from him than I was expecting.
Having opinions is cool.
i don't claim to be right anymore than i'm claiming people who disagree with me are wrong. merely stating an opinion and voicing my dislike of strawman arguments. a fair amount of libs (notably bill scher over on liberal oasis) are making this same tedious and untrue point about the unrealistic expectations of lefty obama critics. it's irksome when people who are (more or less) on the same side as me start doing the marginalizing and stereotyping that pervades every fucking argument that takes place on the internet.
In other news from Osborne's thread ...
I hadn't realized that FDL and OpenLeft had taken to banning comments. WTF? Is that true? That's some messed up shite.
(I haven't been to either of those places since probably summer 2008.)
There's also a wide gulf between "I have certain expectations about what can be accomplished" and "Obama sold us out, burn the heathen."
I have legitimate beefs with Obama on policy and I've documented them on the blog. You can disagree with the guy and it doesn't make you a Republican. Hell, I disagree with the guy on the Middle East and civil liberties on a daily basis.
But I'll take Obama over what the other side has become 999 times out of 1000, and that last time I hope somebody's ready to render me unconscious before I make the jump over there.
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