The Progressive's Dilemma

Ala Hunter form DailyKos

Look, if we have Clinton as our nominee I'll certainly work to get her elected. But Clinton is an establishment Democrat in every possible sense of the word. Somewhere along the line, "establishment" Democrats abandoned populism, instead being convinced by an army of some of the worst political consultants to ever grace the halls of power that in order to win you had to court the mythical middle, and that the mythical middle was, bafflingly, corporate-leaning moderate conservatives, in spite of the fact that polls at every step of the way showed more support for progressive positions than conservative ones.

The result was a minor collapse of the party. While Bill Clinton prospered because of his charisma and skill and, yes, populist speech, Democrats in the House and Senate got clobbered. The whole party turned wishy-washy. The Democrats became just as beholden to lobbyists and corporate-written legislation as the Republicans, but they didn't get any more votes from it: the moderate conservatives the strategists kept insisting the party appeal to weren't about to go for fake conservatism when they could have the real thing, and independents and true progressives became bitter and disillusioned and, finally, apathetic.

Right now, the "establishment" Democrats are in a pickle, again, and seem damn determined to take the opportunity given them by rampant disgust at Republican/conservative politics and flush it down the consultant toilet, once again. Nobody wants to speak out too strongly against corporate interests, even though it's transparently obvious that industries like the health insurers and media conglomerates are actively damaging the interests of the nation. Nobody wants to speak out too strongly against the Bush administration, because there's this "mythical middle" of people who like torture, in small doses, and like the president breaking laws, and you just can't take the risk of pissing those people off.