The real left

By Ron Beasley

I started this as a comment to Cernig's post The Left And The Other Left below but realized I simply had too much to say. I agree with Cernig that change is coming to both the major parties.  Regardless of how the November election turns out I think one of the major changes will be the Clintons will no longer be power brokers in the Democratic Party and that's a good thing if you are a progressive.  In one of my final posts over at Middle Earth Journal I had a post titled Dreaming of a Clintonless Democratic Party.  I see the Clintons as a disaster for the progressive movement.  Many of us referred to Bill Clinton as the best Republican president since Eisenhower - and yes Eisenhower was better.  We often talk about how the Republican party was hijacked by the theocrat and neocon far right wingers.  Through Clinton's Democratic Leadership Council we saw the Democratic Party hijacked by pro corporation neocon lights.  While Clinton did win two presidential elections he didn't do it by himself.  In 1992 Ross Perot was instrumental in Clinton's election and in 1996 he ran against Bob Dole who ran the worst political campaign in US history.  It is important to remember that after eight years of Clinton the Democratic party was all but powerless thanks in part because under the DLC the Party had become Republican Lite offering no real policy alternatives so there was no reason for anyone to vote Democratic.  What will happen to the Clintons?  Unlike Cernig I don't see a migration toward the Republican party.  I think it's more likely they will simply become background noise.

So what about the future - near and far?   Cernig discussed the schizophrenic nature of the Democratic Party.  Well I see schizophrenic nature of the Clinton supporters as well.  (1) First we have those who actually support the Republican Lite/DLC vision of the world - a minority I suspect who may vote for McCain.  (2) Another minority think they are entitled to a woman President, aging feminists who have dreamed of seeing a woman President in their lifetime - they will have to decide which of their dreams is more important. (3) And finally there I those who simply think Hillary is a better candidate.  I was in that camp until January.  I suspect they are the majority and some of those have already switched to Obama or said they would vote for him in November - the majority I would guess. While numbers one and two may make the most noise they are the minority.  They may vote for McCain but probably won't be enough to elect him.

I see an Obama win and if Hillary is gracious in defeat it could be a big one.  Once the general election really gets underway people will start to see John McCain - he won't look very good.

Update

Booman has the story on the infamous "whitie" tape. Clinton Kool-Aide and Bush Kool-Aide must have similar ingredients - they both make you stupid and vicious.