Obama puts Nader to the test
Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 10:13:48 AM PDT
It is looking more and more likely that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is about to be tested on what it takes for Democrats to win: Run liberal. Ralph Nader on the Meet the Press today repeated this mantra, and he even ceded that Barack Obama is as a "liberal evangelist."
Since Bil Clinton shifted the Democrats to the right, we've been saying that being "Republican-lite" is a losing strategy. In groaning about Gore, supporting Dean and predicting a train wreck for Kerry we've been saying that "moving to the base" and "standing up for progressive principles" is the winning combination, not sliding ever rightward to the center.
Obama is building out from the progressive base of the party. That's where his support is strongest and has been in place the longest. He has spoken our language and our dreams for the kinder, more just and more aspirational America. In place of focusing on base-transactional politics (vote for me and I'll get you this) he is running on personal and community - moral - values. Obama represents the first real test of our contention that this kind of politics will work, will shift politics to the left and result in things like universal health coverage, multi-lateral foreign policy and other progressive initiatives. Will we pass this test?
In 2000 Nader captured a lot of the same frustration and hope for something that better that Obama launched his campaign from. Nader's Super Rallies drew out energetic crowds of 15,000 paid attendants across the country. His 2000 campaign was incredible in many ways, even if his fizzled since then.
Obama has done more than repeat what Nader did, since Obama's coalition is looking big enough to result in a victory. There's no comparing Nader to Obama. Obama is running to win and he's winning. But Nader runs to make a point, and it's point that many Obama supporters agree with. Run as a liberal, define liberal in terms that Americans can understand and support, and don't hide from our legacy or our principles.
Unlike Nader, Obama will put this claim to test. Can he run as an aspirational liberal unafraid of the good that can come from government working in people's interests, and win? Will that be why he wins?
Nader is a non-factor for whether or not the contention will be proven true of false. Of far more importance is how the right's attacks on Obama will resonate.
The test depends on how well Obama's unabashed positions on liberal ideals and aspirations will out trump the petty and divisive "cultural war" politics that have put American progressives on the defensive for more than twenty years now.
Nedler Pickler of the AP lays out how the ultra-right will conduct itself against Obama:
Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem led conservatives on Internet and in the media to question his patriotism.
Politicians like Gore and Kerry followed the advice that how to defeat these kinds of attacks is to co-opt them, as was masterfully demonstrated by Bill Clinton who defeated the false truisms like "bleeding heart liberal," "welfare queen," and "tax and spend" by talking tough, ending welfare and making deficit reduction the new mantra of the Democratic Party. Kerry believed that dressing himself in the flag, complete with "ready for duty" salutes at his convention would save him from attacks that he was not a patriot. He instead opened the door to be shift boated, which was a total shame because the charges and the narrative was so base as to be remarkable in how effective that campaign really was.
Will Obama's way prove to work? If Obama stays with his current narrative-defining, self-defining, strategy and he is able to do what Gore and Kerry could not, to be defined as "with character" and "in touch," then I think we will know that running on liberal values and principles works.
What's more, we'll have learned that sticking to bedrock principles, but not to tired tactics, also works. Because Obama also makes the point that it takes more than the right positions, as leadership, organization and effective messaging as also required.
And then, hopefully, we'll get to see if running on liberal values can translate into action on those values. Since Bill Clinton ran to the right, we could only see how little that does for progressivism. So far, so good. With Obama, this is a test I'd like to see run its course.
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