Perspective is needed on the Political Left

Since Barack Obama cliched the democratic nomination he's been taking tons of heat from the left wing of the democratic party. I'm hoping that the folks throwing the bombs will come to their senses and stop beating up Obama for not being liberal enough. Conservatives like to point out that Obama is has the most liberal voting record in the senate. I don't know if this is true or not but I'm guessing his heart lies a bit to the left of the mainstream of the party. I think that his primary victory is a victory for progressives - much more so than if HRC had won. Indeed, HRC almost sounded like a republican at times during the campaign. We know she isn't but she was clearly running in the primary as if it were a general. Which is where Barack is now - running in the general.

I think the left of the party is making a huge mistake in resisting the actions Obama is taking to position himself for the contest against McCain. It's the same on both sides of the aisle. During primaries, repugnicans run to the right, democrats to the left. On both sides it's base, base, base. That's the way it is, for better or worse. Then when the primary is over, both sides tack to the center. John McGetoffmylawn has defied this wisdom by starting on the right and going righter, but I digress. Obama wants to win. All progressives want him to win. To do so, he needs a large contingent of independents, Reagan Democrats and moderates to go with him. They won't if he runs left. Sorry but that's the way it is. Always has been.

We won't know if an Obama presidency will deliver on the lofty themes he has articulated until he actually wins. I for one will take Obama's hopeful vision of a united and peaceful, egalitarian and prosperous America over the dark and fearful future offered by John McCan't. So come on Lefties! Don't engage in self destructive efforts to push the candidate to where he can't appeal to the center. That is a clear recipe for loss. Like voting for Nader in 2000. Let's resist the party's proclivity for foot shooting and get behind the best candidate I've seen in my lifetime. This is OUR Kennedy. Support him. Donate. Vote. Stop the pressure from the left until AFTER he wins.

Atheist Quote of the Day

I've been posting to the Atheist Quote of the Day blog for a long time now. I recommend it highly as a place to make you think a little each day.

Honest John McCain - Nicknames and Why He'll Lose

I used to be a fan of Big John back when he was a "maverick". For this run, old John seems to have made a couple of very serious political miscalculations. First, he's decided to cozy up to the thoroughly insane religious right. Back in 2000 you could argue he lost the nomination to incurious George because he not only failed to pander to the loony faith-heads, he actually stuck his thumb in their eye by calling their Grand PooBahs "agents of intolerance". Clearly JM decided he wasn't gonna make THAT mistake again so this year he went a'courtin and winds up french kissing the likes of John Hagee and Rod Parsley, two men that suffer from clinical psychosis. Now, I don't seriously think McCain is really in these nut jobs camp. If I'm right, he embraced these lunatics for purely cynical political reasons. Some maverick. If I'm wrong, he's actually become one of the agents of intolerance he decries.

The second giant mistake is making "staying the course" in Iraq the centerpiece of his campaign. While there are doubtless a significant portion of folks that are ok with doubling down of GWB's disastrous policies, most American's have come to understand that our adventure into Iraq has furthered Bin Laden's goals at the expense of our own. We have created a situation that risks flipping stable and nuclear armed Pakistan into the hands of radicals. We have immeasurably strengthened Iran. We have driven oil prices up by increasing the instability of the middle east and decreasing supply coming out of Iraq. The "surge" was done to give time for political reconciliation. By that measure, a total failure. We really want to continue these policies?

Lastly, for this post, I'm annoyed that a man that's running on his foreign policy experience keeps mixing up Iraq and Iran and can't seem to keep straight the difference between a shiite and a sunni.

A partial list of insulting plays on JMcM's name - please add your own.

John McCan't
McCan'tRemember
Hard Candy McCain
McPain
C3PO (for the way he moves)
Captain Jowls
I Can't Believe It's Not Bush
McBush
BPH John
The Ticking Temper
McMetamucil
McGetOffMyLawn
McMoreOfTheSame
Popeye
McAncient
McCoot
McManchurianCandidate
McAnus
McCainMutiny