Democrats have spent over twenty years devising a party system that caters to conservative Democrats at all costs. They can endorse whoever they want for President. They get ten times the media coverage of Progressives. They get more money. They can hold up and water down whatever legislation they want. They get more meetings with the leadership. They don't have to pay party dues. They are more likely to get cabinet appointments.
Further, the entire Democratic leadership came into power while this system was being built up, and is entirely complicit in its continued existence. Further, they are convinced it is this strategy is the main reason why they have the trifecta in D.C. right now. For example, Rahm Emanuel, one of the more extreme practitioners of this strategy, is widely credited with helping Democrats regain power in 2006. He was duly rewarded for this by becoming White House Chief of Staff. Another great example came during the climate change fight, when Speaker Pelosi couldn't stop praising Collin Peterson even as Peterson threatened to blow up the entire bill. President Obama then piled on with even more praise of Peterson.
You aren't going to get the leadership to change course by telling them to starting knocking some heads together, ala Bill Press or Michael Tomasky. Virtually the entire progressive blogosphere has spent six years writing those articles, and it hasn't done a damn thing to change the "coddle the conservatives" strategy that determines virtually everything that all members of the Democratic leadership do.
Yet further, it is clearly not President Obama's style to get aggressive in public, or private, with members of his own party (especially conservative members). His administration is taking a congressionalist, relatively hands-off approach to legislative battles. He also ran on a platform of bipartisanship, giving everyone a seat at the table, and general co-operation. To act in a more aggressive fashion is incompatible with his public persona. Even if the persona is some kind of mirage, and the centrist bent of his cabinet appointments strongly suggest that it is not, if he had run on a more aggressive, populist, anti-corporate strategy, then he might not even have won at all. He certainly would not have received such favorable media coverage relative to McCain.
Long story short: under its current leaders, the Democratic Party leadership is not just going to change course after twenty-five years and start attacking conservative Democrats. They are never going to voluntarily join us. Instead, it is time to force the leadership's hand with a direct effort to deny them something they want very badly unless they give us something that they want very badly. In the case of health care reform, that means denying them health care legislation unless they give us a public option in that legislation. Fire Dog Lake runs down the strategy, and how you can get involved. |
