As you may have noticed from some of the political posts I’ve written, I consider myself to be a fairly progressive liberal Democrat. That’s why it pains me to be forced to admit that, sometimes, I fucking hate my fellow travelers on the Left. Why is that? Simply put, I despise the propensity of some liberals to eat their own at the ultimate expense of the Progressive movement as a whole.
Case in point: the the breathless panic induced in some progressive liberals by the news that President Elect Obama has named Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff. You can read a fairly balanced piece on this from The Nation here that lays out the issues nicely.
Let it be said, I am in no way a fan of Rahm Emanuel. He’s a Democratic Leadership Council Clintonite; and I think he represents everything that is wrong with the Democratic party. But one thing that no one can deny is that he can beat people into doing what he wants. And, as Chief of Staff, that’s exactly what his job will be; to browbeat various parties into going along with President Obama’s agenda. In that way he’s a great pick for the job.
There is a bigger point that I’m trying to make here though. Here’s the deal people: at the time I’m writing this, President Elect Obama has had that title for three fucking days. For Cthulu’s sake, if this was most of us we’d still be holed up on a desert island for the next few weeks. Look, we didn’t elect some sort of mystical hobo who can wave a magic wand and undo the depredations of the last twenty eight years with a puff of magic dust. Moving this country in a more progressive direction will take years of work. But we’re damn sure in a better position to do it than if McBlinky and the Dolt had been elected.