I’ve been having trouble writing this week. Part of it is because Congress is on recess. Part of it is just a general type of fatigue I get when the Bush administration behaves in really atrocious ways. I’ve only had two prior snark-outs. The first was in December 2005, after the Bush administration reacted to the NSA revelations by refusing to apologize or discontinue their lawbreaking, but to actually run the midterm strategy on how great and necessary their lawbreaking was. I was temporarily knocked back on my heels by that. The second was after they responded to the Baker-Hamilton report by surging more troops into Iraq.
In both those cases, and probably in the current crisis over the conduct of the Justice Department, I regained my bearings by calling for impeachment.
Double Impeachment is still the only really sane policy I can advocate. Even a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq seems like a dangerous policy if it is not accompanied by a change in leadership to oversee that withdrawal.
But there is another thing bothering me, and that is the presidential primaries. A year from now we will almost definitely know who our nominee is, and I can’t see how that candidate has a damn thing to do with what have all, collectively, been doing on these internets tubes over the last four years. The whole blogroots movement arose in opposition and in a power vacuum. It’s in our DNA to oppose. We don’t know how to support. Sure…we rallied around John Kerry and did a great job for him. But we did it by opposing Bush.
The real positive change coming out of the netroots is going on locally. We don’t really have anything to do in a national campaign except act as a watchdog on the press. It seems like working on a presidential campaign will just be a huge distraction and an energy drain. This is especially true about the primaries, where we will be fighting among ourselves.
I think the real work we should be doing is working on changing the Democratic Party into something different from the Clinton model…something that reflects the era in which we live. I keep thinking of writing about these big issues, but then I can’t come up with a coherent and concise vision of exactly what I’m trying to say. Not in a blog/diary format, anyway.
I just think the blogosphere has reached a point where it needs to transform into an overtly political entity because it deserves actual representatives and a seat at the table. But, that will, of course, totally change what the blogosphere is and will create a new generation of in-kids and out-kids, and purity tests…and all the rest.
But trying to get this beast to come together to support a nominee? It’s not going to happen this time. This time there is going to be a lot of blood on the floor. And, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter so much who the President is. It matters whether we can create a left party in this country that will never bring us or tolerate another Iraq War and another executive power grab.
The battle for the soul of the Democratic Party is the real fight. Which one of the Democrats to pick in the primary? Well…of course it’s important. But it isn’t where we can be productive.
Just some Friday night thoughts to try to blow through the writer’s block.
