To put it simply--the President does not care about what we in the base think about his rightward shift towards the Republicans, and his continued appeasement of them while following the Clinton triangulation playbook even as they continue to oppose him and plan to destroy his presidency.
All the articles we write in the world will have no effect on this President and his staff in their thick DC Beltway bubble. It is clear to me that President Obama will continue making the same mistakes he's made, and will continue his triangulation. After all, much of his staff is from the Clinton years, and this is the sort of advice he's getting and thinks to be right:
White House officials do not take seriously any talk, no matter how preliminary, of a credible primary challenge to the president, and the larger view is that the more Obama is seen as a centrist, the better off he’ll be.
Liberals, they think, can shut up and get on board to help Obama paint the portrait of moderation the White House is hoping to have framed before November 2012.
It doesn't mean that they shouldn't be written, but that our efforts should be better directed somewhere else. So, you ask, where should our efforts be directed?
The answer is in getting more actual progressives elected to office.
Most of the Democratic seats that were lost were in the Blue Dog caucus. One concern is that in 2012, many of these Blue Dog Democrats will run again for these seats with the help of the DCCC and DNC/OFA. They would form a stronger working majority with the Republicans, again stymieing our progressive legislative agenda.
One of our electoral goals is to weaken the Blue Dog caucus by finding electable primary candidates that are unashamed to be Democrats or progressive Democrats, and run these candidates in these districts with the help of other progressive organizations since we would face opposition from the national party in doing so. In order for any real chance of progressive legislation to pass the House without being seriously weakened by the Blue Dog Democrats in 2012 and thereafter, we need to destroy the ability of these Blue Dogs to form a working majority with the Republicans. This does not mean we have to obliterate the Blue Dog Caucus, only to even the playing field so that progressive ideas and legislation have a greater chance of passing through the House unscathed.
We'll also have a hard time of doing this because as a sop to the Blue Dog Caucus, Speaker Pelosi appointed a Blue Dog, Rep. Steve Israel, to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DCCC isn't just a protector of Blue Dogs, they also have some questionable murkiness about their donations. It's why I don't donate to the DCCC because of the incumbent protection racket that they run, which enables the obstructionism of Blue Dogs to the actual Democratic party values.
Donations would be better directed towards Democracy For America, which is dedicated towards electing and supporting progressives in office at the local, state, and the national level. I would strongly suggest that you sign up with DFA to train for campaigns, find, and elect great progressive candidates.
If we take the House back in 2012, prevent the Blue Dogs from further adding onto the working majority of the Republicans, and keep the Senate in Democratic hands, then it looks better for us in terms of advancing the progressive agenda.
Remember, you are NOT helpless, and you CAN fight back on the cuts to Social Security and extending the tax cuts for the wealthy!