Following the meta wars over the last few weeks, I have become increasingly despondent about the state of things on Daily Kos. As I read them, it felt like democrats were increasingly fractured and fractious. That we are doomed, doomed, doomed I tell you.
This morning, however, I began to realize that, while there are important differences, really we are all pretty much on the same page.
While the rhetoric here has lately turned to those who wholeheartedly support the president versus those who wholeheartedly oppose the president, when any individual diarist or commenter is pressed, there is always nuance.
For my part, I support Obama's work on HCR, Sotomayor, and other issues, while vociferously opposing him on Afghanistan and offshore drilling. I half-support his maneuvers on DADT, but would like him to speed up the process. I have no doubt that some here will agree or disagree with various parts of what I just wrote. But here's the thing. At the heart of it, most of us agree on most of the issues.
Almost all of us agree that a single payer system (Medicare for all) or the public option is the best way to go.
almost all of of us agree that we should get out of Afghanistan either immediately, or very soon (a year or two at most after a concerted effort at improving things).
Almost all of us oppose offshore drilling.
Almost all of us want DADT repealed.
I could go on.
The debate between the factions is not about the best direction to take, but rather the speed and amount of action that can or should be taken at this time.
Where some think, on some issues, that Obama got as much as he could given political realities, others believe he could have gotten more had he pushed harder. Further, some think that pushing harder will improve democrats' chances in the midterms and next presidential election, where others believe that the failure to achieve real results will lead to diminished democratic party representation in the next election. All of these are fair arguments. But at the heart of it, we all want the democrats to win and we all want the democrats to pass more progressive legislation. The only difference is whether we see this change as more or less incremental.
These are all hard question, without easy answers. Few of us are wholly incrementalists or anti-incrementalists. It depends on our own views as to the most important issues and our own understanding of what can and cannot be done.
We are all trying to make our nation more progressive and trying to win (or at least limit our losses) in the next election.
So let's stop impugning the motives of those we disagree with. We all want, more or less, the same things. We disagree only in the speed with which we can achieve those ends and the impact our actions will have in the next elections. Really, those are only small differences that should not divide us.
Update: As this diary sinks slowly into the west (or the bottom of the recent diary list), I thank all of you who have posted comments. It has been among the more interesting, informative and non-combative times on DKos of late. Peace.