The Left Should Look in the Mirror....

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Monday December 08, 2008 · 5:54 AM PST

2008/12/08 · 05:54

Liberals voice concerns about Obama

Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.

"He has confirmed what our suspicions were by surrounding himself with a centrist to right cabinet. But we do hope that before it's all over we can get at least one authentic progressive appointment," said Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America.

OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: "Isn't there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?"

And if they do, they just may see a right-wing conservative staring back at them. I find it truly amazing that so many self-styled political experts and opiners are always shocked after their candidate has been elected and he doesn't immediately start jumping through their ideological hoops. (Let me hasten to add that I consider myself a progressive but also a realist.)

Have we learned nothing from the last four years of what a government driven solely by ideology and politics will do to our country? The Neocons who have controlled every aspect of our government have brought chaos, war, destruction, and financial calamity to the American people. A government whose guiding principle is "Our way or the highway" can never govern effectively nor with the best interests of its people as its goal. Have we so quickly forgotten Obama's rallying cry that we are not a nation of blue states and red states but a United States?

Obama has not even been sworn in and already the whiners on the left are crying foul and that they have been betrayed. Grow up and get over it. We have so much work to do in America. We must re-establish the rule of law and the Constitution. We have to end the war in Iraq. We have to concentrate our military and political might against the true strongholds of terrorism around the world. We have to rebuild New Orleans. We need to bring health care to all our citizens. We need to have companies pay their fair share of taxes. We need to seriously pursue an alternative energy program. We need to make education available for all who want it. We have to rebuild America's infrastructure. But none of this is going to happen until we have stabilized our economy.

You think you have a tough job? Just for one moment try to imagine the breadth and scope of the challenges that await our new president. Let's first fix all the things that the Republicans have broken. Then we can begin to apply our progressive ideals and policies for the good of the country not just to make ourselves feel good. Nor to think that to the victor belongs the spoils.

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