Close Encounters of the Progressive Kind

[Jackpine Radical]

Yesterday while returning from a business trip I stopped at a gas station some miles from home, and the car at the next pump had an Obama sticker (as does mine). The guy pumping gas complained about the cold (the storm was showing signs of blowing in). I would describe the guy as "older," except that he looked about as old as me, so I would place him in late youth (as Isaac Asimov used to describe himself in his 60's).

Anyway, after a bit of nonsense chatter, we started talking & continued the conversation for a while inside the station store while we were getting coffee & stuff. When I mentioned his Obama sticker, he started gently, tentatively suggesting that he wished Obama were more progressive. I concurred. He cited the banker bailouts and health care as primary examples of where Obama has disappointed him. He's a single-payer guy. I didn't ask if he reads DU, but he would fit in pretty well here among those who want to support Obama but don't worship him, and who are growingly aware of his feet of clay. The guy closed the conversation saying "We need a real progressive movement in this country, and I said "Amen."

The station is on the edge of a town in the middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin, surrounded by cornfields.

The whole incident left me wondering how many more of us there are wandering around loose.

[YOY]

1. Well I fully expect some folks here to call you 2 "extremists" or "left-baggers" or some other shit.

That compares you to the idiots on the right that have never taken a political science class once in their lives and take marching orders from pundits.

[rucky]

3. Why don't you wait for that to happen before you respond?

[lunatica]

2. If 65% of Americans want progressive legislation I'd say

They are all over the country. I think most people actually think in rational and logical ways. Just because the teabaggers and Uber Right wing Christians are the loudest doesn't mean they're anywhere near being a majority. What they are are simple pawns being played for the benefit of the few who want to control everything with the sole purpose of getting rich and powerful.

[Warpy]

4. What was considered loony left just 15 years ago

is now a majority position in this country as the proof of the failure of conservative ideology piles up.

Unfortunately, the guy is blaming Obama for some of the wrong things. TARP was passed under Stupid, typically without any regulation to insure the money wouldn't be pocketed by the scumbags who created the problem.

Other than that, he's correct. Some of us who did our homework knew there was a huge gap between Obama's rhetoric and Obama's voting history and we're probably the only Democrats who aren't being disillusioned. He's actually been a bit better than we expected.

There are a lot more of us wandering around loose. When we start wandering around in packs, maybe somebody will notice.

[AuntPatsy]

5. And so it begins, one recruit at a time...and soon an army forms of solidarity....