OMG..."Infighting" at DU??....I' m Shocked !!!

[bvar22]

Most DUers have held their tongues for the last several months, and supported the Democratic Party Brand. We shared the same goal….getting Democrats elected.
The elections are now over.
We have a Democratic White House and big majorities in both houses, it is time to discuss The Issues and the Future of the Democratic Party.

I predict that DU will descend into 3 major factions.

1) The "Must support Democrats right or wrong" faction.
They can be recognized by repeated refrains of “Why are you so angry? We WON!”
Or Can’t we all just get along?”
They will drift away as the heated debates between Conservative Democrats and Liberal Democrats become more intense.

Heated discussion have never "ruined DU". They ARE fires that have forged DU.

I am not a member of an organized political party.
I'm a DEMOCRAT!" ---Will Rogers


2) The "All I want is to return to the Clinton Era" faction.
These are the Conservative Democrats. The Democratic Party in Washington is still mostly populated by Clinton Era Democrats, or new conservative Democratic recruits strongly supported in their campaigns by funds from Rahm (DCCC/DLC). They are strong supporters of a top down authoritarian Democratic Party and express open contempt for the Grass Roots and Howard Dean.
They are financed by their large Corporate/Wall Street contributors, and will work very hard to protect the profit margins of Mega Corporations. You will probably see another attempt from this crowd to Privatize Social Security (Individual Accounts) sometime in the near future.

They will fight hard to prevent any serious re-regulation of Corporations or any REAL restrictions on Free Trade. They may attempt to camouflage their real allegiances by saying things like "We added protections for Taxpayers" or "Strict oversight has been included", but the reality is that these "protections" will be toothless and easily avoided.
(SEE: The recent Wall St Bailout and the Democrats who supported it)

These Democrats will find reasons to Stay in Iraq (permanent bases to protect the Oil Corps interests), escalate the War in the Middle East, and INCREASE the size of the Military and Military (Defense) spending. They will also take an openly hostile position against the emerging Populist democracies in South and Central America.



3) The Progressive Faction
These are DUers who agree in their heart with the Green Party Platform, but remain Democrats for political viability. Their hope is to move the Democratic Party back to the Left. They will NOT be satisfied with a return to an era of Clinton Triangulation.
This is the group who weren't happy with the Clinton's anti-LABOR Economic positions or the refusal to roll back the worst abuses of the Reagan Era. They saw the Clinton Era as losing ground to the right.....not as bad as Reagan, but moving rightward none the less.

Most members of this group are aware that Obama is not a Progressive, but hold hope that he is at least willing to listen to their voices. Currently, they are justifiably alarmed at Obama's choice for CoS (Rahm) and the members of Obama's Economic Transition Team (BIG Business and Clinton “Free Trade” retreads).

In the past, this group DOMINATED at DU, but over the last couple of years there has been an influx of conservatives who are willing to mix it up on the board.

We live in interesting times.
The engagements between these two groups will be pretty hot.


Obama is a true unknown. His campaign rhetoric seems to promise true grass level progressive changes, but he is supported and surrounded by entrenched special interests (Big Money).
He voted FOR the Special Interests on the most recent BIG votes (Telecom Immunity and Blank Check for Wall St CEOs), but that was during the campaign. He can't do much unless he is sitting in the Oval Office. Obama is undeniably smart, and he may justifiably have seen these votes as necessary evils in order to win the election (Wishful Thinking?).

We have the opportunity to participate in the Battle for the Soul of the Democratic Party.
DU will get "messy" (Don Rumsfeld ).

Some suggestions from an old timer:

Be polite, but STAND UP for your beliefs.

Respect other people's right to their opinion.

Wear good armor.

Never take anything personally.

Sift for Substance.

Ignore Snark.

Alert on Personal attacks.

Don't feed the trolls.

"Think for yourself and question authority."

I will be here, and I won't be quiet.

Le Bon Temp Roulette




"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[Faygo Kid]

1. Another old timer asks: Why is this necessary?

Ya know, we just may have the best president and Congress in our lifetimes here.

You put in a lot of work here. I appreciate it. I also don't think it was necessary.

We will be fine.

[DS1]

2. Bush was our own Saddam

Say hello to your new power-grab

[crappyjazz]

3. nice synopsis and good advice to boot

thanks

[jonnyblitz]

4. there is going to be a hardcore Obama fanclub that will police

the place shouting down any and all criticism of him. they will make any and every excuse for his choices and decisions no matter what he does. already they are completely FREAKING OUT over any criticism of him and when they aren't policing the place, they are picking out what breed of puppy he should get, what to name the puppy, or deciding whether the girls should go to public or private school or what Michelle should wear for clothing. Yup, total whackadoodle stalker type fanboy/girls. it's gonna be fun fun fun! :crazy:

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Hey! Shocked people get banned! n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

6. All I Want Is For Democrats To Be To The Left Of Nixon

Which most "Democrats" are not, these days.

Does that make me a starry-eyed Progressive dreamer? Actually, I think that Obama is a true Liberal, and will drift in that direction as soon as he can.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

7. Yes. The most important thing over the past 8 years was to get back into the White House.

And of course Congress majorities (and expanding those majorities).


Specifically, the most important thing for us in the past year was to make sure that our Dem candidate won. Thank God he did.


This will hold true in 2010 and 2012 as well.



Now is the time to discuss issues within our own party.

[KoKo]

8. Well...Hell! It's about time SOMEONE spoke up about this! Many Thanks!

bvar22 :yourock:

[RoyGBiv]

9. I would add a faction ...

If we must have them, that is ...

There will be those who agree or disagree with issues and choices as they see fit.

I know what you're saying here, but let me add something to it. This faction I define above will be embraced or denounced depending on the opinion they hold at any given time, and this will largely be a personal thing. If they are in a disagreement with someone who is criticizing an Obama administration decision, they will be dismissed as someone who is simple defending Obama at all costs. If they agree with the criticism of an Obama administration decision, they will be dismissed by others as someone who just is disagreeing because they aren't a real Democrat, whatever the hell that is.

And, I suspect this will be the largest faction on DU. It always has been. It's just not quite as loud as others.

[bvar22]

11. I agree strongly with you.

IN the REAL World, no one could be strictly pigeonholed into either group, though my bias is clear in the OP. My post was more in the vein of explaining that there is going to be controversy at DU. It has always been that way. I made some pretty broad based generalizations dividing DU into two camps as a way of explaining the nature of the situation, and to tell people not to get too excited, or get their feelings hurt.

I am very hopeful that Obama will be able to find common ground between these two extremes, and America will actually move back to the Left.
I will be satisfied with movement in that direction.

[RoyGBiv]

12. Like I said ...

I know what you were saying. My online self giggled quite a bit at all the "will DU still have a reason to exist if Obama wins?" comments. I mean, come on. We spent more time hammering (well deserved hammering, I might add) the Democratic Congress in the last two years than we did Bush. Yeah, we'll find shit to fight over. Guaranteed.

I just wanted to add a bit to it. I've seen people accused of being a Freeper troll and a member of the Loony Left(tm) on the *same day*. One can only laugh at it. Otherwise, you'll lose your mind.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Factions: 1. Sycophants 2. DLC 3. Troublemakers K&R

Democracy requires a lot of faction 3.

[Zhade]

13. PROUD to be #5 - and a true liberal progressive!

Excellent point about the clinton-era dems.

[JohnnyLib2]

14. Happy to be the 6th.

thanks for the wise words.