It seems all my postings lately involve the avoidance of being remiss, and that's what I'd be yet again if I didn't highlight this bit of commentary from Glenn Greenwald:
[I]f you were a Democratic Party official, wouldn't you also ignore — and, when desirable, step on — the people who you know will support you no matter what you do to them? That's what a rational, calculating, self-interested, unprincipled Democratic politician should do: accommodate those factions which need accommodating (because their support is in question), while ignoring or scorning the ones whose support is not in question, either because they will never vote for them (the hard-core right) or will dutifully canvass, raise money, and vote for them no matter what (the Democratic base). Anyone who pledges unconditional, absolute fealty to a politician — especially 18 months before an election — is guaranteeing their own irrelevance.
Why does this sound hauntingly familiar to me? Oh, right, because of this and this and this and this and I think we'd both agree that's enough of that for now, wouldn't we. I've spent so much time riding this hobby horse because I've always felt it's one of the most important domestic political questions (if not the most important). Or as Greenwald puts it, it's "one of the most important domestic political questions (if not the most important)". Gaaah! Stop doing that!
As I've said before, I give Greenwald tremendous credit for continuing to follow his principles wherever they lead even now that President Fleshword has taken up residence in the White House. It's a rare person—and a downright unicornesque high-profile liberal blogger—who chooses that path over partisanship. And he's paying a price for it; I regularly see him being slagged in the comments sections of liberal blogs and media outlets for the exact same kinds of observations that won him ringing praise when he was applying them to Bush. If he keeps this up, he may find that instead of writing for Salon he's reduced to tapping out his opinions on some obscure blog somewhere. Ha ha ha ha! Oh, wait.
The Distant Ocean 
Hmm. Come to think of it, have we ever seen Glenn Greenwald and John Caruso in the same place? Have we? I mean — what more do you need?
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Idk, i imagine he’s also winning converts at a steady pace as even many libs are being forced to recognize obama’s blazing flame-out. A Hope and Change facebook friend recently linked to GG which was unexpected. They’ll likely console themselves with “who could have known?” But thats quite anecdotal and i really don’t spend much time reading lib blog comment threads so who knows.
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“If he keeps this up, he may find that instead of writing for Salon he’s reduced to tapping out his opinions on some obscure blog somewhere. Ha ha ha ha! Oh, wait.”
Oh, John, you’re so funny. Are you on drugs?
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Catherine, have I ever mentioned you’re my favorite commenter? To answer your question, I’m just high on the air here in Braz…er, San Francisco.
Druff, I’ve also seen a lot of people turning the corner seemingly with his help (no doubt partly thanks to the respect they gained for him during the Bush years), and I don’t know how it breaks down either. He’s established enough credibility in the past that I think a lot of people remain willing to listen, and hopefully enough that he won’t pay a professional price for goring Obama. I can only imagine how heads must have been exploding at the usual liberal haunts over this article of his, though.
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‘thanksglenners’ is a lot less pretty than the ralph one. it could be the holiday. we should think of another name for them, to have it handy.
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It’s a rare person—and a downright unicornesque high-profile liberal blogger—who chooses that path over partisanship.
There’s plenty of partisanship in Greenwald’s position. He still wants to be a Democrat. He just wants a Better Party, Changed from Within.
He says the party leaders “aren’t listening.”
That’s not the same as saying “quit the party, everyone!”
Probably that’s because he’s afraid they’d all jump ship to the Evil Rethuglicans… he sees only Big Parties, Big Profiles.
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He may not have reached the point of encouraging people to part with the Democrats, but people don’t change overnight, and he’s been moving consistently in the right direction. This is the same Glenn Greenwald who was initially defending Obama on rendition and deriding Obama’s critics on the left–so he’s come a long way. We’ll see what happens by the time the 2012 election rolls around.
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Keep in mind, too, that this “YOU MUST SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH” duty that dem politicians and supporters apply to the masses also serves to marginalize blacks. In fact, the racism implicit here makes the concept even more vile — you will be pilloried as a black person for failing to give your unquestioning support. Note that a white person can just declare himself apolitical — not that he’s being treated fairly or that he should have to (this is obviously grossly unjust), but at least he has the option. But once your melanin content reaches significant sunblock levels, congrats: you just signed up to permanently kiss the ass of some dipshit who hates you, hates your family, hates your friends and would happily watch you die for a fucking percentage — and if you don’t, you’re a “hater.”
Glenn Greenwald is, effectively, promoting black interests better than some black politicians.
As mentioned above, the man is far from perfect, but he seems to be proceeding from a very honest place, even if some of the facts of life as he knows them are off. I was contemptuous of his defense of Obama at the start of the latter’s presidency, but all things considered, he moved much more quickly to an ethical position than many well-off white people. And, frankly, I’m concerned with results. If Newt Gingrich had a come-to-Jesus moment and, tomorrow, rejected Satan and is works — that is, everything Newt has personally done since he was six years old — and became a humble and faithful steward of liberalism, I’d use him for what it was worth. Once the world isn’t run by monstrous thugs, we can settle down and have an accounting of our pre-conversion sins. Right now it’s just not pragmatic.
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All good points, but at some point we will need to actually start organizing ourselves and mapping out a strategy to get things done. We’ll have to start getting out of our homes and putting the time, effort, and money into creating a new political movement.
Ideas on how this will happen?
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