Please read Digby now

[lwcon]

Which do you want to be, a progressive or a cheerleader?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/making-him-do-it-by-digby-i-was-reading.html

[mzmolly]

1. I plan to defer to our intelligent new President and his rational vision for America.

Have fun bitching with Digby though. :hi:

[evlbstrd]

5. I didn't read it as bitching.

Rather as continuing to mobilize progressives to make our voices heard.
I particularly liked this quote:

FDR was, of course, a consummate political leader. In one situation, a group came to him urging specific actions in support of a cause in which they deeply believed. He replied: "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it."

He understood that a President does not rule by fiat and unilateral commands to a nation. He must build the political support that makes his decisions acceptable to our countrymen. He read the public opinion polls not to define who he was but to determine where the country was – and then to strategize how he could move the country to the objectives he thought had to be carried out.

[mzmolly]

6. Sorry, I know DU too well. There is positive, optimistic activism

and counter productive whining from the perpetually disappointed. I fear it wont be long before we see the later here daily? ;)

However, I agree that Obama will better than most in garnering the support he needs to accomplish the goals he laid out in his vision for America. I also keep in mind that he promised what he promised, nothing more, nothing less.

Also of note, he got votes from 40% of self described conservatives in many areas. He's the President of the United States, not the President of the left blogosphere. I shall keep that in mind as I go forward, happy as hell, that Obama is our President.

Edited for grammar.

[madfloridian]

2. I plan to keep speaking out when I feel something is not right.

If we back off and get complacent we will not be able to make a difference.

Good for Digby. I agree with her.

[IndyOp]

3. I plan to do what he taught us to do - make happen what we want to have happen.

Obama did not ask us to believe that WE can make change happen just so that we would sit back down on our couches after he was elected.

Community organizing is all about actively assessing our community's needs and then pushing for the changes we need - at all levels.

We don't elect LEADERS in a democracy, we elect REPRESENTATIVES -- we have to responsibly communicate to them what we want and push our fellow citizens to speak up, too.

:hi:

I'll be a progressive.

[katandmoon]

4. Not a cheerleader. I'll hold Obama's feet to the fire just like I held Clinton's.

I'm definitely not a rubberstamper of the freeper variety. Furthermore, Obama, unlike Bush, isn't the yes-man type. He actually wants to be challenged.

[justinaforjustice]

7. Preserve A Progressive Democratic Party

One of the downsides about the Republican Party's conversion into the theo-publicans and the neo-conservatives is that the liberal Republicans have fled their party. Where will they go? Likely into the Libertarian and Democratic Parties. This could mean that the Republican-lite DLC will regain power in the Democratic Party and try to defeat a progressive agenda. As a result, progressives are going to have to work harder to organize their base to push the Obama administration (how nice it is to be able to say that!) to carry out its progressive mandate.

In sum, Digby is quite correct. We need to forcefully organize and lobby Obama on progressive issues, such as universal healthcare, wholesale revision of the bankruptcy act, re-regulation of Wall Street and, perhaps most importantly, divestment of large corporations from ownership of all the major media outlets. We need to restore the fairness doctrine and use anti-trust legislation to dilute the terrible concentration of media control which has allowed the Bush-Cheney administration to demolish our democracy. We must pass strong legislation to protect universal access to the internet.

We have a real chance for significant change with the Obama administration, but we are going to have to fight for it. The conservatives will certainly be fighting to preserve their ideological hegemony, we need to fight back hard.

[madfloridian]

8. Kick for Digby

:kick:

[Danger Mouse]

9. I plan to hold Obama accountable BUT...

I am NOT going to freak out over stuff that hasn't even happened yet.

[grantcart]

10. What a ridiculous sentiment

Rather than be concerned with policy that solves as many problems as possible we are now to be genuflecting before "the most liberal"

If Obama wants to govern as liberally as the political circumstances allow, then we need to work to make sure that the political circumstances include a strong liberal base.

This is a mirror image of the right wing religious nuts. I am for socialized single payer health care. Not because its liberal but because it solves the most problems. We should not be slaves to stalemated ideologic arguments that may no longer be relevant. Maybe its better we move from a 'Welfare Society' to a 'Guaranteed Work Society' now help me here which is more liberal creating a permanent status of dependency or making a guarantee that everyone has a job. Now exactly which of these is the acceptable pure ideological position - at one time a "guaranteed right to a job' was considered to be very liberal. Now would that be considered liberal or neo conservative - I don't really care I am more interested in this question: "Which would solve the most problems?

Now the whole question of being "the most liberal" as possible leaves one wondering at what point of this imaginary line is too far? Is there no end? If Obama is 87.93 on the liberal scale then we should be 99.04. If he is 99.04 then we have to be 105.90 and if he is 105.9 then we should be 200. Given the ratings that were applied (which I find hilariously superficial) that gave Obama the title as "most liberal US Senator", the whole article is revealed as absurd.

To simply push for the idea that we need to posture now to pressure Obama to be more liberal without knowing how 'liberal' his policy implementation is, is as anti-intellectual as Bill Frist making a distant diagnosis on the Terri Schiavo case in order to please the religious right.

Cheerleading for an unknown, unspecified, 'more liberal' position is a lot more intellectually bankrupt than being a cheerleader for President Obama.

Fortunately it is a false choice and we can simply be Democrats who will not always agree with each other or our new President.

To start to organize and posture for ideological effect before the President Elect has even taken power is at this point is, well very Freepish indeed.