As soon as the primaries are over ...

Hi, my name is Beachmom, and I am a procrastinator.  I have been waiting until tomorrow to get things done since I was a kid.  In fact, as I write this diary I really should be doing something else, but am putting it off.  I am not so bad as to not pay my taxes on time.  But my procrastination has gotten me into mini trouble from time to time.  Given my credentials on the art of procrastination, I am here to tell you that DailyKos has become a procrastinator site.  This realization hit me when I discovered and read today the GBCW diary by BenGoshi, a tough love diary as to why he was choosing to leave the site.  He wrote the truth, and it boils down to this:  we are putting off talking about important issues until the primaries are over.  This is a big mistake that we must correct.

Most of us calculated that this primary fight would be over on Super Tuesday.  Yep, nearly two months ago.  Therefore, we put everything into fighting that fight, and set aside the big issues for when the primaries were over, and we had our nominee.  Well, it is now April 1st, and the primary season is far from over nor will it end any time soon.  Yet we still continue to put off, with some exceptions, everything but the primary campaign.  This cannot stand, or we will be consumed by the abyss and forget what our larger causes were about.  

Yet the procrastination continues, unabated:

1.  I really want to explore what in the hell is going on in Iraq.  I'll do that as soon as the primaries are over.

2.  I really want to take the content of nyceve's excellent health care diaries, and explore that issue beyond the partisan politics of the presidential primary to how and in what form we can bring about Universal Health Care, as soon as the primaries are over.

3.  I really want to do some major research into who exactly John McCain is, and how he will continue the Bush legacy to the country's detriment as soon as the primaries are over.

4.  I really want to write some copy on global climate change, and what we can do to lower carbon emissions as well as what Al Gore is up to as soon as the primaries are over.

5.  I really want to delve into how we ebb Islamic extremism across the globe in a completely different way than the disastrous Bush policies as soon as the primaries are over.

6.  I really want to talk about how we can increase our numbers in the Congress and highlight some of the top races in the country as soon as the primaries are over.

7.  I really want to explore the continued culture of corruption of the Republican Party and use that to win more seats in the Congress as soon as the primaries are over.

8.  I really want to discuss in depth what is happening to our economy, including the record number of foreclosures and what domino effect that has had on the financial markets, as soon as the primaries are over.

9.  I really want to talk about science and technology, how the Republicans have dissed science throughout my Gen X lifetime, how we need more children to become scientists, and how green technology can create a new economy for our future as soon as the primaries are over.

10.  I really want to talk to all of you about what it means to be a progressive, what dreams we have for this country, and how we think the Democratic Party can take these ideas and create an America of the 21st century better than our finest moments in the 20th century.

Or .... we can limit our conversation to the latest polls, what outrageous thing the Clinton campaign did today, what the latest delegate count for Obama is, and how Pat Buchanon is really such a jerk and why is he still on TV.  Now, all of those topics are worthy to discuss on DailyKos.  The problem comes in when they completely take over our attention to the detriment of other non-campaign issues, and we have no energy or oxygen left to discuss anything else.  It also limits who wants to read DailyKos every day.  Unless you are an Obama partisan (which I admit to being one), there are less reasons to come here.  Now I am sure the traffic is doing just fine, and Markos won't have any trouble paying the mortgage :).  But it is not just quantity but quality:  do we really need to mirror the traditional media only amending it with an Obama spin?  Isn't the point of the blogs to do better than them?

We can keep putting off doing what we do best (covering stories not given much attention in the traditional media), or we can continue what BenGoshi terms as our fall from being like the old New York Times to emulating the New York Post.  I choose the former.  

I am sure many of you have lots of suggestions of what we could be talking about instead of the usual riff raff (or as Bill Clinton in a moment of clarity called the "Fun House" of the campaign).  Here is my own for today:

Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has put together a series of hearings this week that focus on Iraq in the lead up to General Petraeus testifying before the committee next week.  The first hearing is today at 2:30 PM.  No coverage on c-span, but intrepid bloggers can watch it for sure when it is archived 10 hours later, and I believe it is shown live through their website.  This is an example of something we can do that members of the traditional media typically don't.  Watch a committee hearing, and report back to its content.

What else should we be talking about, but aren't, because we are waiting for the endless primary season to end?