I asked one of my co-workers – who claims to be a Republican, and supports all things Republican – how it’s possible to laud Ronald Reagan as a great statesman… but malign actors for having political opinions. She had no answer.
That leads me to today’s quick thought:
The current “attack” by the right wing against Sen. Obama is that he’s “radical”. Hannity and the right-wing attack machine has been hyping this big-time. This is just another bit of hypocrisy. The USA’s Republican party (I mean nearly all of the politicians and talking heads, mind you) has been radically right-wing for about thirty to forty years. So from the far far right, I can imagine a moderate seems far to the left. But that’s a wierd bit of relativism there – which is itself another irony.
Besides, can the leftists start saying “We were right?” now? Just in recent memory, we’ve been right about:
* The environment & global climate change
* The problems of sprawl
* The Housing Bubble
* Gasoline usage
* US role in torture
* Political Corruption
* The Iraq War
* Profiteering
* Detriments of Globalization
Sure, maybe a few details weren’t quite right, but the broad direction was. So let me repeat that:
The left was correct. We told you so. Although we may not feel too sorry for you, we aren’t saying this to brag, or to make ourselves feel superior.
No. This is more like an intervention.
Will you at least *listen* now?
Before it’s too late?
i think one issue the left has is that too many folks are posturing as superior for either being “right” about these things or being enlightened enough to point out their “problems”. The tone has to change. Just like a liberal “elitist” from a Blue state sneers at the “red state”, the end result is division, giving cause to further separate into “our” circle as opposed to the inferior “other”. Tone and a commitment to understanding and working for progress, despite all else.
I’m not so much wanting a cookie as wanting an acknowledgment that the left has legitimate information, legitimate viewpoints, and legitimate solutions. Maybe not always the best or only solutions, but legitimate ones.
The fact that Hannity, Goldberg, et al are not being dismissed as kooks for their claims… well, we’re still a ways from progressives being seen as legitimate.
wow- you’re really hung up on that “cookie” comment.
still, there’s a tone issue everyone needs to address