Open Left

this is not 1994

The differences are many: this administration is very much about not pushing very hard against entrenched powers and winning easy public relations points in accumulating political capital- as opposed to the more idealistic (at least on health care) and less savvy 1992-1994 Clinton administration.  But more importantly, the national mood (or if you want to call it the media climate) is entirely different - it is far more headed in a progressive populist direction given that the Republican party, and agenda, has collapsed under its own weight and the evidence of what has been implemented - something that never happened with Reagan and/or Bush I to this extent.  Who will come up with, let alone sell, a new Contract For America?  I doubt Mike Huckabee or someone like him has the wherewithal or competence to do that and simultaneously convince the Republican Party that they need to.  

Plus you don't have the issue of the South finally turning over to the Republicans in 1994 - something you could argue was long overdue in terms of realistic expectations (if LBJ predicted it in the 60s...).  There is nothing like that in this election.

Further, because of this issue of mood and the way that (I think) it's moving, I doubt that an anti-incumbent election would hurt progressives rather than help them - because you would have new politicians who have not lived through the roll-over-and-play-dead Democratic caucuses of the last 8 years.  

Frankly, I would be more excited to see some minimally decent legislation and a lot of easy public relations attacks (e.g. like the Sotomayor nomination) come out of this administration rather than measures that would convince the public that this lot is all that useful.  

Because I think they're not and they should go.  We need more progressives in Congress, not just to retain an overwhelmingly centrist Democratic base, as the bailout debate and subsequent events have shown.  Otherwise, we're playing dice with our future.

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by: dr anonymous @ Tue Jun 09, 2009 at 08:04:38 AM CDT