A House Divided . . .
On September 30, Barack Obama published a piece entitled, Tone, Truth and the Democratic Party, arguing that “our mutual frustrations and strongly-held beliefs notwithstanding, the strategy driving much of Democratic advocacy, and the tone of much of our rhetoric, is an impediment to creating a workable progressive majority in this country.” On October 6, Bruce Reed in Slate praised Obama’s essay calling it a “brilliant piece” and arguing that, “the Obama essay may be the most intelligent advice Democrats have been given in the Bush era.”
On the one hand, Obama’s piece makes an argument that Democrats must clearly accept if they are to again to become the majority party in this country. That is, that the Democrats must be the party of ideas and initiatives rather than critique, that the Democrats must do more than simply criticize Republicans, but must offer real (and appealing) policy alternatives to Republican policies. At the same time, I was troubled by his suggestion that that goal is compromised by internal dissent within the party, and, more specifically, by the criticism of Democratic senators for voting “yes” on the Roberts nomination. Isn’t one response to Obama’s call for new ideas and bold debate that would captivate the American populace, that that debate has to happen openly within the party first? Don’t we have to have a debate how Democratic Senators should exercise their “advice and consent” power on a Supreme Court nomination when they have been denied full information about that nominee’s views? Don’t we have to have a debate within the party about how forcefully we should push for gay marriage? Don’t we have to have a debate within the party about whether the use of preemptive force is ever appropriate? Don’t we have to have a debate within the party as to whether some legalized restrictions on the right to terminate a pregnancy might be acceptable? How will the Democrats, for instance, be able to craft a “foreign policy that meets the challenges of globalization or terrorism while avoiding isolationism and protecting civil liberties” without the benefit of these admittedly painful discussions?
Comments
I agree that the Dems should debate these issues, but, from reading Obama's piece, I thought he was arguing that Dems shouldn't demonize those like Pat Leahy and Russ Feingold who voted for Roberts out of a considered assessment of his judicial temperment. Perhaps I missed something, but I didn't think he suggested that Dems shouldn't debate these issues.
I do think, on another note, Obama makes a good point on the extent to which some liberals practice the very intolerance supposedly anathema to liberalism. That is, to the extent one strays from party orthodoxy on issues like welfare reform, public schools, local control, the role of faith in public life, abortion, crime, and taxes, one is, in many respects, excommunicated from meaningful party participation. Both from an intellectual level (intellectuals, by definition, demand ideological freedom) and a political level (the more rabid liberals completely repel the Red Staters), I think a bit more democracy in the Democratic party is well needed.
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