Reply #72: “One swallow does not a summer make.” [View All]

[kodi]

You point out your difference of opinion on the flag amendment Clark would endorse. It is not related to the comments I had made about Clark. It is not a response to the implied inability of Clark to understand modern American political realities, nor that his more rabid followers show a startling inability to see this flaw in Clark.

My point was that Clark is politically naïve.

Clark’s comments last night on letting IT jobs flow to India was politically naïve. It showed that he has far to go with understanding the impact of glib remarks, especially since he was right. But he said it in the wrong way.

Further, I like Wes Clark, but he hasn’t built his narrative yet. I don’t think he has a clue about how to run for president, but I think he has a great idea of how to be one. Maybe he should use that narrative.

The same affliction of enthusiasm that courses the veins of rabid Deanies is also apparent in a significant portion of the Clarkies here.

True believerism, to the core.

I have seen Clarkies dismiss Deanies posted negative facts about Clark with the same contempt that some Deanies dismiss Dean’s inconsistencies.

Both camps have marauders and thread spoilers who attack with loopy logic their adversaries, yet they hold positions if examined with the same critical lens are equally absurd.

What is funny is that you seem to imply that the more rabid Deanies are from the left and are abandoning the objectivity that allows for their righteous indignation. These folks never were from the doctrinaire Left. On the most part, they’re just politically shallow or bereft of life experience.

I am not as impressed with Howard Dean as I am with what he has rekindled; a grass roots activism that can sweep the party up from its roots.

It is why I do think he understands why the movement is bigger than him. I think he is smart enough to see and understand it.

For that alone he shows wisdom.

He is the only major candidate who is pressing this point. It is an important point, because the only way the Democratic Party has a chance, and the only way the average citizen can make a difference is through more political and social activism by progressives throughout the landscape.

That is an intelligent and long-term viewpoint, and one, which was used by the republican hard right after 1964 when Goldwater was beaten.

It took them 40 years to fully recover, but they are running the show now, and they did it by building a political party that had a large number of very active people at all levels of the process.

With the large sums of money and power arrayed against progressive policy positions, it is impossible to defeat these things in a conventional manner. We are going to have to resort to the equivalent of political guerrilla warfare by using the only tools we have, and that is the numbers. The vast numbers of people who face the same critical issues to live their lives are the best resource to use to promote all our hopes.

This means grass roots, hands-on local political and social activism. And this is what Howard Dean is about. I just wish he would get the stick out of his ass.

BTW: Oh man, anyone thinking this site hasn’t become more centrist and adolescent recently doesn’t deserve a seat at the table of reason.