Reply #23: Speaking out is fine -- turning on one another is not [View All]

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Just to be clear about it -- Obama is a centrist by temperament who has certain more left-leaning aspects, especially when it comes to dealing with the poor and deprived. He also appears to be extremely good at actually listening to other people, seeking out a diversity of opinions, and responding with flexibility and pragmatism at times of crisis.

All of that suggests to me it will be the job of the netroots to keep up the pressure, make sure we are not ignored, and serve as a kind of think-tank for generating progressive ideas. But Obama's native centrism should not be allowed to turn us against one another. He is what he is, and overall we are likely to get a lot further by working with him than by working against him.

It dismays me greatly when I see one thread after another writing off the Obama administration before it even gets started.

In addition, the squabbling here lately reminds me of nothing so much as the 2-3 months after the 2004 election, when DU was convulsed over suspicions of election fraud and almost ground to a halt under the weight of incessant threads devoted to fruitless wild-goose chases and what appeared to a large number of trolls, infiltrators, and provocateurs doing their best to stir the pot and muddy the waters.

I thought that winning, for once, instead of losing would make things different this time, but apparently not. However, I also think there are people in the GOP who would love nothing more than to see the Democratic Party divided against itself -- and who may be just as good at using wedge issues from the left as from the right. If those people aren't here already, they surely will be once they catch the scent of blood in the water.

I think we've had our primal scream moment, and it helped to get a lot of things out in the open -- but next comes a whole lot of hard work. And anybody who would rather keep screaming instead of working is only going to be an impediment.