I’m with you on that second paragraph. Thank you for that.
As to the Obama years-even if he could not personally have made those speeches, he could at least have sent people in his administration out to give them, and could have encouraged Congressional Democrats to do so. He could also have accepted that it was a legitimate tactic to allow progressive primary challengers to those Democrats who spent most of the first two years of the Obama era doing nothing but either voting “no” or making it clear they would only vote “yes” if what they were asked to vote on was watered down to nothing. or nearly nothing as the ACA was.
He could also have pushed the party to put up a serious fight to defend or expand its congressional majorities in 2010- it came across as though he essentially decided to concede the loss of the House before the campaign even began- and to fight hard to regain a majority in the House in 2012 and restore one in the Senate that year as well.
The 2008 results could have been the beginning of a long-term progressive Democratic realignment- the party just had to keep faith with the base and with the Obama movement and that could easily have been achieved. Instead, it looks very much as though the Democratic leadership placidly agreed to do nothing to stop a right-wing comeback-in order to appease the corporate donors who wanted the party to be nothing more than a “pro-business” small-c conservative party that supports reproductive rights and doesn’t seek to persecute gays, but is otherwise largely in support of the policies of Calvin Coolidge-rather than sustain and expand its popularity, and put together a long-term winning streak, if doing so meant it would need to keep presenting a message and program that sustained grassroots enthusiasm, but made the corporate checks smaller and reduced the chances that party officials could transition out of politics to high-paying no-show jobs on corporate boards or and endless series of lucrative appearances on the speaking circuit or at weekend treats at fancy coastal hotels.
