No great movement can overwhelm its opposition by gutting its own morale.
We have the potential to be a great movement, even beyond what Obama led in 2008. In fact, we must become that movement, if we are to win over the Republicans in a decently short time frame.
But first, we've got to let go of despair. Not disappointment. But disappointment should drive us to participate, not drive us into the floor like a hammered nail, not believing anything can be done.
Some fellow, believing himself witty, talks about losing hope that Obama would be Audacious. That's a complete misunderstanding of what Obama meant by that phrase.
The Audacity of Hope relates back to a Rev. Wright sermon that itself was about a painting which showed a woman surrounded by dark goings on, who looks up towards heaven with a harp with all but one string broken.
The idea, as Obama related it, was not that hope was some wishy-washy thing, a refusal to face reality, but willingness, a drive to push on, to keep going even when things are at their darkest.
So, what does this author lament? That things seem to have taken such a dark turn, as far as they are concerned.
How does this author seem to think things are going to get better, though? We could suppose that if we abandon Obama, we would punish him, and get a better candidate. So, really, where is that better candidate? It's pretty easy to reject what you have in hand, but to replace it, how do you go about that?
If you really want to replace him that bad, here are the things you have to succeed at, if you don't want to suffer a worse outcome.
First, you have to find somebody who can actually beat Obama, then seal up the breach left by him being primaried. Then that person has to actually defeat the Republican who runs against him.
If you can't achieve one of yours, then the question is, are you willing to inflict further Republican domination on the country?
Me, I think the theory that you can let Republicans win and that will teach a lesson to those who aren't true believers, and that the Republican's policies will automatically alienate people enough to get them back to our side is just nuts. Republicans may go in easy, but like a barbed arrowhead, they'll take all too much flesh with them coming out.
Look at that Congress. That bullshit, that mess is what happens when you let today's Republicans win. And as for it alienating people? Well, the Republicans sometimes do a good job of that, but they also often have the gift of blarney, and they can justify a lot of bullshit to their supporters and keep themselves from suffering losses over it.
Here's my theory: we are at a point of inflection. The Republicans have the legacy of thirty years of domination of American politics on their side, and don't you forget that. We are not equally matched with them. We're not Democrats in the Eighties, who had the House for ages, who had the Senate for most of the last half century. We are a party that's been beaten down further and further over the last few decades until we finally snapped and decided to fight back.
And yes, that was glorious to behold, but that wasn't ever going to be the end of things. Deciding to fight back is the easiest part. Now you have decades worth of fighting to do, and don't forget it. That's not to say you'll have to wait decades for everything, rather that you will not be fighting with the institutional advantages that the Republicans have put together through decades worth of of work.
In other words, this will be a real shitty fight, with lots of frustration and failure for the first few years. But as those videos for GLBT teens say, it will get better. The Demographics work for us, the frustration of Americans with their situations works for us. But we must stick with it.
Remember, as tempted as you might be to bump bellies with your fellow Kossacks, there are folks out there who are much more definitely your enemy, and much more focused on screwing you.
So, stop fighting the people who are merely causing you frustration, and start confronting the people who hate your guts, who'll try to stop, disagree with anything and everything you do.
Otherwise, resign yourself to losing. If you won't fight with your fellow Democrats in as great of numbers as possible in order to take back ground from the Republicans, you will only lose to them, because they are not divided on one important thing right now, whatever divisions they may have: taking the fight to us, and taking seats from us.
Let's not intentionally tie one hand behind our own back as we face these people. Let's not wallow in despair because we're having trouble turning this country around. Let's go out there and kick Republican's asses, and help take the pressure of of Democrats in Washington to conform to Republican policy agendas. Let's go out there and make Obama and the other Democrats push things further than they would, being the careful politicians they are, by changing the dynamics of what the safe positions are. Let's not wait to be led, let's stand up to lead, and believe in ourselves and our ability to bring about our agenda.
They can frustrate our legislation in Congress, and defeat our leaders in elections with corporate money poured into them, but they have to fight for their victories just the same as us. If we don't show up, they win. If we do show up, and we fight not merely for the candidates and the laws that can be defeated, but for the principles we believe in, and our ability to manifest them, we can win, and perhaps more than we ever thought we would.