Yesterday a great many diaries had one of two forms:
- "I hate Obama now because he disappointed us."
- "I hate Daily Kos now because everyone hates Obama now because he disappointed us."
True to form, I got damn tired of both camps. To the former: We're all disappointed at Obama's tepid statement, but how exactly does that make McCain an acceptable alternative? But to the latter: What the hell party do you think this is?
WE'RE DEMOCRATS. Bickering is in our blood.
I joined pretty recently. I can't pretend to know what the ebb and flow of emotion surrounding a campaign feels like around here. But we do love to argue, and I've happily joined in the fray more than once. We're a passionate bunch, and better yet we're well-informed, educated, and articulate. For someone like me who loves a good argument, it's like crack. Only it's like crack that, if smoked long enough, just might build a better nation. How awesome is that?
But there's a flip side to all that passion. All too often we get less pissed off at Republicans than at each other. This, of course, is the celebrated "circular firing squad." Except a firing squad is done quickly. We can go on for days. Over primaries, over the general, over issues, over the FAQ — fuck, dKos's most infamous extended feud was over pie.
So how can we keep the fire going without anyone getting burned? We can't. It's what we do. It's who we are. We bicker all the time. Unanimity is for goopers. We're a herd of cats — it's just how we roll.
And look where we've come. No, we're not done. But we stand a damn good chance in November of getting a whole wave of the more and better Democrats we've been fighting for. The herd is testy, the ground is littered with clumps of fur, and every day a few more cats bolt altogether. But we're winning.
So just as we shouldn't be deluded that Obama can always deliver 100%, we must not pretend that "Democratic unity" isn't at least somewhat paradoxical. There was a diary war yesterday. There will probably be a sequel next week. We'll likely see a dozen more before the election. But we can't lose faith in ourselves just because the fur started flying again. Hand-wringing over FISA gets us nowhere; hand-wringing over hand-wringing is no better. After all, did you really think that once the primaries were over we'd all just start getting along? We're Democrats. We don't do that.