Barack Obama needs to be the LAST Democratic nominee ever to back the foreign policy status quo.

[Ken Burch]

After him, we HAVE to nominate somebody who will finally make a clean break.

It can't be consistent anymore to claim to be mildly "progressive" at home and be pro-globalization and pro-massive defense budget abroad.

The war machine, especially if the tax cuts are made permanent, will make it impossible for anything progressive to even be done at home, since nothing progressive can happen in country with permanently tight domestic budgets. Without spending on social needs, "progressiveness" is reduced to softly asking the rich to be slightly less nasty if it doesn't interfere with their self-interest.

We're on the verge of becoming a party with no reason to exist anymore. Tying ourselves to the Scoop Jackson tradition will make that a certainty and will make it pointless for anyone to vote for any Democrats anywhere anymore.

Our only choices as a party are

1)become a pro-humanity and pro-peace party;

2)die(or move ever further to the right, which is exactly the same thing).

We can't let choice #2 happen.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. "On the verge...."

Quaint.

[NorthCarolina]

2. The DLC will dump #2 on you. nt

[Ken Burch]

3. You mean they weren't doing that already?

DLC'ers don't even VOTE Democratic anymore.

[NorthCarolina]

4. Yes, they are becoming a bit more open and obvious of late. nt

[Ken Burch]

7. Well, they always were just "Adult Children of 'Democrats For Nixon'".

n/t.

[Unvanguard]

5. Every Democratic nominee for the foreseeable future is going to back the foreign policy status quo.

Robert Paul Wolff once said that, if we had a socialist revolution, the new leader of post-capitalist America would still support the foreign policy status quo. I think this is probably true.

[Ken Burch]

6. I'm not sure we HAVE to concede that.

Why CAN'T we have policies that are progressive at home AND progressive abroad?

The interests of the planet's poor and working-class Rainbow Majority are not different than the interests of the majority of the American people.

We could win on an "we're ALL in this together" platform.

[Enthusiast]

8. I doubt the Democratic Party

will ever have a general election candidate for president that isn't rah rah when it comes to war and corporate rule. Something fundamental must change.

[Ken Burch]

10. Yes, something fundamental MUST change.

And the Democratic party MUST be part of that change, or cease to have any reason to exist other than to actually fulfill the ultraleft's claims that we're just a wing of the ruling kleptocracy.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

9. Obama is doing just fine foreign policy wise.

Obama More Popular Abroad Than At Home, Global Image of U.S. Continues to Benefit

Ratings of America are overwhelmingly favorable in Western Europe. For example, 73% in France and 63% in Germany say they have a favorable view of the U.S. Moreover, ratings of America have improved sharply in Russia (57%), up 13 percentage points since 2009, in China (58%), up 11 points, and in Japan (66%), up 7 points. Opinions are also highly positive in other nations around the world including South Korea (79%), Poland (74%), and Brazil (62%).

The U.S. continues to receive positive marks in India, where 66% express a favorable opinion, although this is down from last year when 76% held this view. America’s overall image has also slipped slightly in Indonesia, although 59% still give the U.S. a positive rating in the world’s largest predominantly Muslim nation.

http://pewglobal.org/2010/06/17/obama-more-popular-abroad-than-at-home/

This is a few months old but I doubt much has changed. This is one the main reasons we elected President Obama.