Ideological Liberalism v The Electoral Politics of Shortsighted DEMs

· Sen. Barack Obama defended Sen. Hillary Clinton for describing the House of Representatives as a "plantation," saying he felt her choice of words referred to a "consolidation of power" in Washington that squeezes out the voters. Senator [Barrack Obama] told CNN's "American Morning" that he believed that Hillary Clinton was merely expressing concern that special interests play such a large role in writing legislation that "the ordinary voter and even members of Congress who aren't in the majority party don't have much input. There's been a consolidation of power by the Republican Congress and this White House in which, if you are the ordinary voter, you don't have access. That should be a source of concern for all of us."

· "Since [the Democrats] think it is their job to run the plantation, it shocks them that I'm actually willing to lead the slave rebellion." (Newt Gingrich circa 1994.)

· Sen. Barack Obama gently criticized two comments by civil rights activist Harry Belafonte in which he [Belafonte] called the Department of Homeland Security a "new Gestapo" and referred to President Bush as "the greatest terrorist in the world." "I never use Nazi analogies because I think that those were unique," Obama (D-IL) said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

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I don't know what the hell Clinton meant by such a comment. Noone (Black, White, or Other) should feel comfortable making present-day analogies to the economic system that depended on the brutal and de-humanizing nature of the slave trade and Americanized slavery. When one does that, they exaggerate whatever difficulties they are experiencing, while simultaneously understating the vicious brutality inherent in slavery and the slave-related system of government (plantations, et al). There is noone alive today that can make the comparison b/w slavery and any kind of experienced (perceived) hardship. There should be even less tolerance for such comments to eminate from a privileged and wealthy woman (who may be one of the most powerful people in the world right now, and 1 election away from being the next U.S. President) to make such poor use of words. What's more problematic is that she did it on the MLK Holiday...in front of an all-Black (presumanly DEM-leaning) audience...and received no retribution for it because DEMs are too worried about re-election and removing REPUB control from the White House, Congress, the Judiciary, etc. ("Man, we can't condemn Hillary...because she's OUR only hope" goes the mantra). The public outcry was interestingly muted, if not totally silent. Some conservative outlets were saying that the DEMs were being hypocritical since they almost lost their minds in '94 when Newt Gingrich made a "plantation" reference...or when Clarence Thomas said his U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings resembled a "high tech lynching." When you are a DEM, you [today] support DEMs even when they don't deserve that kind of respect. When you are a philosophical LIBERAL, then you attack hypocrisy, no matter what/who the originating source. There are too few LIBERAL PROGRESSIVES...and too many weak, spineless DEMs positioning for power. To become relevant and impactful, DEMs must maintain a liberal philosophical spirit, while NOT simultaneously selling their collective soul[s] in a lust for political change and power.

Progressively,
LeftAngst