Liberals should beware the lazy cry of betrayal (The Guardian)

[denem]

Liberals should beware the lazy cry of betrayal
Martin Kettle

The right has always thought politics can never achieve anything. The left is now slipping into an equivalent middle-class heresy.

Betrayal has long provided a liberal comfort zone from which to survey the difficult issues in modern politics. But it's becoming a default setting, enhanced by the blogosphere. And not just about Obama. Only a couple of days after Wills's diatribe, my eye was caught by an anguished attack by the Times religious affairs commentator Ruth Gledhill against Rowan Williams for, in her view, selling the pass on gay rights and women in the Anglican church. The dreams of the liberals who believed in Williams as the man who could lead the church into the modern world "are almost dead", she wrote.

The late Henry Drucker pointed out long ago that the British left loves to wallow in the warm bath of betrayal. Since 1997, a leitmotiv among British liberals has been the sense of disappointment, disillusion and betrayal about the Blair and Brown governments. Whether it's Iraq or social justice, climate change or civil liberties, the default liberal stance is that Labour has let us down, failed to achieve much and has gradually proved itself – along with much of the rest of the political class – as incompetent, contemptible and corrupt. Criminal too, in Blair's case.

This month two new scaffolds are being erected on which politics will again prove itself unworthy of the hanging jury of liberal opinion. Whatever their actual outcomes, the Copenhagen climate change conference is guaranteed to be branded a betrayal of the planet, while the Chilcott inquiry into the Iraq war is already condemned as a whitewash...

Politicians are neither bad nor stupid. They are wrestling with difficulties. That does not mean that all compromises are as good as all others, or that every imperfect solution is the best that can be achieved. It is as important to avoid Panglossian pragmatism as to learn to discard habits of political thinking – about the paramountcy of economic efficiency, for example – that may have worked once but which no longer apply in changed circumstances. I do not advocate luxuriating in difficulty, but liberals must learn that in politics, dirty hands are better than clean ones.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/10/barack-obama-afghanistan-betrayal

But any imperfect solution may and will be an act of unprecedented, unforgivable treachery. Until the next one.

[MadHound]

1. Another set of excuses and lies. Nicely worded I'll grant you but excuses and lies nonetheless

The man is repeating much of the same bullshit I've heard for the last twenty years, just with a somewhat different vocabulary and writing voice.

[Skittles]

2. yup

funny how it's always the left who gets these warnings

[denem]

3. Yes. Anything less than the impossible won't do.

How else can we maintain our rage.

[Skittles]

4. we have a right to be fucking angry

and it demeans us to be told to mitigate our anger

[denem]

5. I'm not 'telling' you anthing. Anyone can go to their grave angry.

It's a personal choice.

[pleah]

6. +1

:mad:

[27inCali]

8. control your anger,dont let it control you

anger clouds reason -it can be a great motivator, but it clouds reason and can trick you into making bad decisions.

[pleah]

10. After eight years of the bush regime I have learned to channel it

(hopefully) in the right direction. ;) Thanks for your concern.

[NJmaverick]

21. You have a right to anger, but you don't have a right to be destructive

and you know what is truly demeaning? You presuming to tell us what we have a right to say or not to say, like your anger so how makes you superior or something. Got a news flash for you, it doesn't.

[Skittles]

35. WTF are you talking about?

[NJmaverick]

38. I am talking about the lessons you were taught when you were a kid

it's OK to be mad you have to wait your turn, but you are not allow to hit the kid in front of you or throw a temper tantrum.

[Skittles]

45. who are you to fucking analyze my childhood?

[MNDemNY]

47. He worships a TV doctor.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[MadHound]

9. Why is it when anybody on the left expresses displeasure with where this country is going

Somebody automatically comes out and starts accusing the left of "wanting the impossible" or the more quaint equivalent around here "wanting a pony"?

Excuse me, but I've played the political game for a long time now, and I and most of the rest of us here on the left fully understand that politics is a game of give and take, compromise and pragmatism. We're completely cognizant of that fact.

But the fact of the matter is the left has been left out in the cold for well over thirty years now. We've have watched as the Democratic party has become an ever more corporately controlled party, how our good work for the party has been used against us time and again.

We're not wanting a goddamn pony, we're simply wanting a goddamn bone, you know, the kind that have been getting distributed to the corporate and the elite. Have the party look out for we the people once in awhile.

Instead, we've watched the Democratic party and Democratic politicians destroy the social safety net, transfer an ever increasing amount of wealth up the ladder, and wage war with the best of the Republicans.

Asking for a halt to this isn't asking for a pony, it is asking for our so called representatives to be Democrats. Is that too much to ask?

[denem]

13. Agreed. But commentary from uncomprising idealogues gets the applause

around here. Especially incendiary fury.

There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl,
He's always at home with his back to the wall.
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost,
He struggles to bleed as he hangs on the cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.

[MadHound]

14. I think that you ass u me too much

You ass u me that anybody and everybody you is angry at an action undertaken by Obama or the Congressional Democrats is uncompromising. I seriously doubt that is the case, both here and in the real world. Yes, people around here express their rage and anger, that is part of what internet chatboards are all about, expressing rage and frustration. But to take anything that is said in a chatroom as indicative of that person's true beliefs and motives is simply making one assumption too many.

Oh, and as far as angry young man goes, I'm far from that, and you will find that many of the loudest voices of criticism around here are far from that as well. We remember when the Democratic party actually gave a damn and doled out the occasional bone to the common people. We're just outraged that the party is no longer doing that.

[denem]

15. It's not personal, at all,

but rather an observation that posts along the lines of 'The undercover story of the biggest sell out of all time' are welcomed with rapturous applause in many cases.

At other times 'Nothing will come from it' is premised not on particular proposals themselves, but a smorgasbord laundry list of failings of the entire political and economic system.

(Betrayal is) becoming a default setting, enhanced by the blogosphere

True, the MSM won't report dissent nor even contrary facts, but this piece is from the UK, where the BBC encourages a significantly wide range of views, and left of center publications remain influential.

[NJmaverick]

25. Not assumed, rather a reasonable conclusion based on reading the posts here on DU

[NJmaverick]

23. Has it ever occured to you that it only happens when people are unrealistic in their demands

and time tables? That it your claims of it always happening, are nothing but a curtain of deception to hide the truth.

[treestar]

49. You are left out in the cold because of your rage

You are unable to persuade anyone of anything and in fact turn people off. If you've got that demeanor, people back away and are unlikely to be convinced. Probably the years you've spent in this way have helped make your goals more impossible. You've just turned off so many people.

[NJmaverick]

20. The right is smarter, they don't destroy their own

They have never been foolish enough to help us take down a Republican.

[anonymous171]

22. That's because they rarely fund non-party line republicans

Why? Because they have an precise ideological vision. Dems on the other hand, are united only by a vague idea about "progress" which can mean pretty much anything.

[NJmaverick]

26. Reagan never would pass their party line test

Neither did Bush jr. One of the best things one can do, is develop the ability to learn from an enemy. Their are good reasons why the GOP has been able to dominate and rule this nation despite their limited numbers. First and foremost they don't self destruct, which liberals are very fond of doing.

[Silent3]

31. New York 23rd?

Scozzafava?

As long as Democrats don't screw themselves over so that they lower themselves to their own equivalent to the current mess the Republican party is in, the Republican party looks to be headed for destroying itself in a battle for ideological purity where there's little or no room for what laughingly passes as a Republican "moderate".

[NJmaverick]

39. How did that work out for them

A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

[treestar]

50. And they do keep their temper

They will sit there and smugly and with a straight face make the most outrageous statements, knowing they can enrage the left and help render it impotent.

[NJmaverick]

18. OH! The betrayal!

[EFerrari]

40. Gaslighting, isn't it?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Worse than betrayal. It's politics as usual...as run by the lobbyists.

[denem]

11. Yeah. "politics can never achieve anything" QED.

'Lobbyists' are as old as government.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

33. Politics are highly overrated as agents of change or progress.

At best, the politicians act as middle-men for the real bosses of society. At worst, they are they are in thrall to them.

[anigbrowl]

12. K & R for realism, not that it'll do much good here.

[NJmaverick]

19. Nice picture!

:hi:

[NJmaverick]

16. Martin sure was able to nail the liberal mentality

[seeinfweggos]

17. because a good portion of the left always decries imperfect progress

see obama

[anonymous171]

24. Define "progress" for me. nt

[NJmaverick]

28. We can start with Obama being handed an ecomony on the verge of total collapse

and has turned it around to the right direction. We can also talk about a solid first selection for the Supreme Court (superior to a liberty hating conservative McCain would have appointed). Finally you can go here for the complete list

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

[seeinfweggos]

29. regulating the living shit out of health insurance companies

limiting their profits and forcing them to actually pay claims instead of running rackets that look for bullshit pre-existing conditions to deny those claims, making midicare available to millions more than today (effectively creating a single payer system for those 55 and over.)

In fact, just the medicare proposal is a fine example. i bet kucinich votes against a bill that extends the medicare sigle-payer system to all american 55+.

[HughMoran]

27. I agree

It's somewhat dispiriting to witness.

[amborin]

30. liberals and leftists have always been told to shut up; or worse, they've

been beaten, killed, arrested, etc....

just look at the history of union organizing in the US, and see what union organizers in the '30s had to confront

even people who know leftists are right, and know they should join in the fight, instead try to stifle them

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. They want our votes, not our voices.

[NJmaverick]

37. The problem you fail to comprehend is the votes help everyone's intrerests

don't be so short sighted as to impatiently look out for your narrow interests, that you are blinded by the big picture. Our nation is infinitely better off now than when we were on Bush.

[Fumesucker]

42. For certain values of "everyone"..

Meaning those with power and/or big money, who are the only ones who count in America.

[NJmaverick]

43. No, I mean EVERYONE

Look at what has been accomplished in less than a year:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

[GreenPartyVoter]

46. And the problem you fail to comprehend is that telling people to shut up and vote your way is not

particularly democratic, nor is it likely to help win any extra votes. Asking people what their concerns are and how they would like to see them addressed, and not dismissing them as a narrow interest or kooky or wishing for a pony or unable to win votes from the general population is a much better approach, which is all I was saying in my post above.

[NJmaverick]

36. LOL! are you going for martyr of the year?

[keitai]

32. The Left's Nixon.

I see Obama as the Left's Nixon. Not in that he is a criminal but in that Nixon let a lot of the right wing true believers down (i.e. EPA, Detente, Title IX, wage and price controls).

[ecstatic]

41. Interesting. I thought this was unique to the US... but why do only some of us

do it? I remember years ago how excited and optimistic people around here would get everytime it seemed like a scandal was about to take Bush down. I was always skeptical and pessimistic so I avoided the extra bitterness when Bush would skate by, once again. Now things have changed--I'm hopeful and optimistic while it seems like so many on here are pessimistic.

[denem]

48. It's International. The age old confict between gaming the system and breaking it.

By gaming I mean limiting,reshuffling and redirecting the entrenched interests of the Ruling Class.

[RainDog]

44. well, Blair is a criminal

and he, like Clinton, moved to the right and embraced neo-con ideology.

sometimes I think he was probably blackmailed by the Bushies with Jeff Gannon or some other male prostitute. but maybe he was just lured by the money.

it is ridiculous to state that, because it's "our" criminal, it's okay. the problems in our society are because a criminal class is running things and they face no real consequences for their actions. this is a breakdown of democracy.

just wtf is "lazy" about expecting a govt to abide by the rule of law for the rich as well as the rest of us?