I’ve already written about the administration’s announcement that they are going to treat walking and biking as equally important transportation options as driving in a car. Today, the administration also announced that gays and lesbians will be able to visit loved ones in hospitals and exert power of attorney even if they are not related by blood or marriage. This comes at the end of week that started with a huge international summit on securing nuclear material that might be converted to use as weapons. And it comes only a month after passing the single most progressive piece of health care legislation since Medicare. I know that the health care bill was badly flawed and I know that Obama has yet to keep his big promises to the gay community. I know that Obama has been a disappointment on accountability for the Bush years and on civil liberties. I know that his policy in Afghanistan is unlikely to succeed or be worth the costs. I know that there are other things to gripe about.
But it’s important that we take note of these accomplishments and not let them slide below the radar because they don’t get a lot of news coverage. Letting people get health insurance who have preexisting conditions, subsidizing health insurance for all Americans who can’t afford it, allowing gays the right to be with their partners and take control of their medical care, strengthening non-proliferation efforts and international cooperation, and implementing urban-friendly transportation policies are all progressive achievements.
And this is what I mean when I argue that Obama is basically a progressive. But when I look at the progressive blogosphere and the values that seem to proliferate and dominate among the participants in the progressive blogosphere, and I compare those values to the values of the country at large, I realize that we probably only represent somewhere around 20% of the electorate. And it’s worse than that because we’re really concentrated in a few metropolitan areas. Our representatives tend to win reelection with over 65% of the vote. And the congresspeople that have to fight for reelection are mostly serving in districts that aren’t all that attuned to our values. Or, if they are, they are still vulnerable to the kind of crazy fact-challenged attacks that the Republicans excel at spewing out.
You can’t elect a open progressive to statewide office in most states and you certainly can’t elect one as president. And, even if you did, they’d have to deal with the plain fact that nearly half of their own party’s congressional caucus is not progressive at all.
So, this is what progressive change looks like in a country where progressives are badly outnumbered (especially in Congress). We have to retreat on some things, and the big comprehensive bills have to be crafted to meet the broad center, which isn’t progressive at all. But, around the edges, on the small things, on the regulatory stuff, we can get big gains.