Do you care about the issues? That's what it comes down to. While it's true that the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress have failed to pursue the aggressive agenda they could have and should have, it's also true that the Republicans would have been so much worse on pretty much everything. Granted, being better than the Republicans is a very low bar, but the presumption of granting that is the understanding that we really can't afford much more of the Republicans. This isn't about being brimming over with enthusiasm to vote for the current slate of Democrats, and it certainly isn't about seeing all political issues through the prism of one charismatic politician's stands on them. It's about the issues. It's about doing what's best on the issues. Do you care about the issues?
There seems to be a presumption among some that any progress should be celebrated. Even when that progress is at best incremental at a time when there isn't time for incrementalism. Even when more and better progress might at least have been attempted. And the excuse often is made that attempting more and better progress would have been confronted with intractable obstacles, with the concomitant supposition that such attempts therefore weren't even worth the effort. But in pure political terms, making such attempts rather than so often unilaterally and preemptively capitulating and surrendering might have helped reshape the debate, move the Overton Window, and at least demonstrate a seriousness about principles. To try and to fail should not be considered worse than not trying at all, particularly if one believes in one's principles and wants to inspire those that share them.
One of the more frustrating political arguments posits that questioning or criticizing one's erstwhile political allies is self-destructive. This argument presumes that such questions and criticism undermine political loyalty, when all should be pulling together, as if it were a sporting event--which it is not. If one cares about the issues, there is no wrong time to be principled about the issues. If one is to retain one's credibility, one cannot criticize the Bush-Cheney administration for its alleged abuses of domestic or international laws, then excuse doing nothing to enforce those laws. If one is to retain one's credibility, one cannot criticize the Bush-Cheney administration for having attempted to prosecute misguided and failed wars, then excuse a Democratic administration that does the same. If one is to retain one's credibility, one cannot claim climate change is an unprecedented crisis, then excuse an inadequate response to the crisis. If one is to retain one's credibility, one cannot criticize the Bush-Cheney administration for having pursued an economic agenda that favored Wall Street over Main Street, then excuse a Democratic administration that in too many ways does the same. If one is serious about the issues, one cannot calibrate one's political responses to the issues based on which political party is in power. The issues matter or they don't. One is motivated by the issues or one isn't.
In the past months, an absurd theme has crept into the political dialogue. To some observers, frustration has come to be confused with despair. To some, the acknowledgment of disappointment has come to be interpreted as necessarily undermining motivation. But to those that care about the issues, frustration and disappointment with the politics never should lead to despair or an undermining of motivation. If it's about the issues, the only thing that matters is doing what's best for making progress on the issues. If one cares about the issues, one doesn't need to delude oneself into believing everything is wonderful. If one cares about the issues, one is not going to be dissuaded from participating in the political process because one slate of politicians hasn't adequately addressed the issues. Politicians come and go, but the issues remain. Not one of the great political and social movements that transformed this nation for the better would have succeeded had it been susceptible to despair. Many determined activists risked their lives and gave their lives for movements that to many at the time may have seemed hopeless and quixotic. But people who cared about the issues didn't despair. They didn't give up. They didn't walk away. And neither did they accept inadequate answers or partial solutions. They didn't stop working the issues, and they work them still.
Progress doesn't happen all at once, and it never ever ends. The forces of regression always will be there trying to undermine it, and new progressive needs will continue to reveal themselves. And it is incumbent upon all who care about progress to stay focused on progress, no matter the politics, and no matter the politicians. None of this should need to be said. Criticism of inadequate progress should not be taken as an excuse for apathy or nihilism, and neither should it be confused with despair. We survived Joe McCarthy and Nixon and Reagan and a double dose of Bushes, and every great progressive president has been deeply, profoundly flawed. If you're looking for idealized heroes, read old comic books. If you're engaged in politics then you should understand that every politician is a flawed human being. Anyone who despairs at recognizing such isn't recognizing politics for what it is.
The polls show a potentially devastating enthusiasm gap. For the most part, this isn't about activists or bloggers. For the most part, it's about the economy. Health care and war and human and civil rights and the environment matter a lot to a lot of Democrats, but elections almost always turn on the economy. That turning almost always is based on present economic conditions, not on how those conditions came to be. The number of Democrats and left leaning Independents who will fail to vote won't come mostly from activists and bloggers, it will come mostly from people who are less engaged in politics. Angry activists and bloggers won't cost the Democrats the election, but the less engaged might; and they aren't being turned off by the angry activists and bloggers, they are being turned off by the economy. People who have lost their jobs, who fear losing their jobs, who have lost their mortgages, or who fear losing their mortgages mostly aren't paying attention to the nuances of political dialogue, they are paying attention to their own lives. It may be that many of them are now beyond the reach of political dialogue, but that doesn't mean that reaching them shouldn't remain this election year's primary goal.
The irony of the enthusiasm gap is that it is most likely to cost us the House. If you or anyone you know is even thinking of not voting this November because of the failure of the administration or the Congress to enact a more liberal or progressive agenda, then know that not voting will contribute to a less liberal or progressive agenda going forward. The House is the best we have. Speaker Pelosi is the most progressive leader we have. Punishing the House because you're upset with the White House or the Senate smacks of petulance. Punishing everyone because our elected leaders aren't doing a good enough job of leading smacks of something worse. Do you care about the issues? Will not voting help with the issues? Those that reflexively defend anything and everything the White House does or does not do are not focused on the issues, but neither are those that will walk away because they're not getting their way.
Do you care about the issues? Are you involved in politics because of personalities or issues? Are you involved in politics because of purely personal reasons or because of the greater good? That is what every one of us has to ask ourselves. Those that care first and foremost about the issues never will give up. They never will give in to despair. They never will pretend things are better than they are, but neither will they ever stop trying to make things better. Forget about the politicians and the politics and ask yourself if you care about the issues. If you do, you never will stop trying to work the politicians and the politics to do better jobs on the issues. And that does mean voting, even if that means holding your nose while doing so. It also means encouraging others to vote.
If you care about the issues, you don't need to be enthused by the politicians. You only need to be honest with yourself about how to make progress on the issues. Incremental progress is not enough, but it is better than no progress or reversals of progress. If you care about the issues, inspiration doesn't come from without, it comes from within.