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More On The Left Flank: Defining The Middle

By Big Tent Democrat

Politics is not a battle for the middle. It is a battle for defining the terms of the political debate. It is a battle to be able to say what is the middle. - BTD

Matt Yglesias writes:

That said, the other thing we see here is something that those of us who think Obama is too conservative don’t like to confront. You see a lot of talk about “guts” and being “tough” and “brave” and “bold” but fundamentally we’ve done a terrible job of persuading people in the public that we’re right and there are many issues on which Obama should be more progressive. As Chris Bowers likes to point out, the most credible most beloved messenger on the left is—wait for it—Barack Obama, which tends to make Obama immune to criticism from the left. This is a fundamental problem for shifting the country in a progressive direction. Indeed, in a lot of ways it’s even a problem for Obama himself. But it’s fundamentally a problem of persuasion rather than a problem of Obama’s character.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is a strange paragraph to me. It's one thing to argue that Obama is not likely to care about Left critiques. That may well be. But a bigger problem in my view is the idea that critiquing Obama from the Left is somehow a bad thing to do. I think that has been the point a lot of us have been making. Indeed, the premise of Yglesias' point is that Obama is not very progressive in action (a view I not only believe but argued for many years now.) More . . .

My point, and indeed my critique of Chris Bowers, has been centered on the idea that Democrats need a Left Flank willing to critique Obama.

That requires separating yourself from the pol and the Party, and focusing on the issues. I personally believe it is better for progressives and for their issues when they do this.

But I also think such an approach helps Dems and Obama. With a strong Left Flank, then Democratic policies will be perceived as "Centrist," even if they move the policy in a progressive direction.

It's my old saw:

[T]hat is FDR's lesson for Obama. Politics is not a battle for the middle. It is a battle for defining the terms of the political debate. It is a battle to be able to say what is the middle.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 30, 2010 (boomark / email).