I'm sympathetic to the arguments in the You would rather 2 million lose unemployment benefits diary but there's another side of the story that needs to be told.
- Nothing. Would. Have. Changed. Their. Votes. I hear these unhinged, angry screams to FIIIIIIGGGGHHHTT! Please. He could have spent the entire lame duck session fighting against Republicans, playing politics. He could have went to Maine and held town halls. He could have held press conferences.
It. Would. Have. Changed. Nothing.
If this is true then there really is no point. Travelling around the country fighting for your beliefs is exactly what this President should have been doing. Here however we're being told those things are a waste of time so Obama shouldn't even bother. Because not fighting for your beliefs has worked out so well the past two years.
The problem with this argument is that people have been making it for thirty years. If the left would simply abandon enough of their principals their day will come. The way to a get President who supports your beliefs is to... support a President who doesn't? I don't know how much longer the left can be expected to endorse such a notion.
Those nasty DailyKos diarists - and I agree that some of them were far too nasty - did not put those 2 million people in this situation. Their representatives in Washington did. And as long as there are no consequences for these capitulations they will never, ever stop. Instead of blaming the left for not supporting the leaders how about blaming those leaders for once?
There will always be a reason not to fight for your beliefs. Most of the things that come out of Washington effect large groups of people. That's a reason to fight, not to refuse to fight. We're going to have this fight every two years til the end of time. If we do nothing why would we expect 2012 to turn out any differently?
As I've argued before, you abandon your President when your President abandons you. I have seen nothing to indicate the next two years will be any better. You cannot ignore (much less reward) this behaviour and still expect anything to change. We've tried the carrot and that didn't work. It's time to warm up the stick.