Peter Daou is a pretty smart dude, and he usually has an interesting take on how the progressive blogosphere interacts with the political establishment. I agree with him about one thing. The blogosphere may not have the biggest audience, but it is a major player on the political scene. We help set narratives. I also agree with him (in the main) about this:
I’ve argued for some time that the story of Barack Obama’s presidency is the story of how the left turned on him. And it eats him up. You know it from Robert Gibbs, you know it from Rahm Emanuel, you know it from Joe Biden and you know it from Obama himself.
The constant refrain that liberals don’t appreciate the administration’s accomplishments betrays deep frustration. It was a given the right would try to destroy Obama’s presidency. It was a given Republicans would be obstructionists. It was a given the media would run with sensationalist stories. It was a given there would be a natural dip from the euphoric highs of the inauguration. Obama’s team was prepared to ride out the trough(s). But they were not prepared for a determined segment of the left to ignore party and focus on principle, to ignore happy talk and demand accountability.
Now, I don’t fully accept the framing of Daou’s argument here. I don’t think ‘the story’ of Obama’s presidency is going to be that the ‘left turned against him.’ And I don’t think that his most strident critics (especially Hamsher) are putting principle over party (at least, not consistently). But I do agree that these critics have a massive amount of influence, and I do agree that they are getting under the administration’s skin and that the administration was not prepared for this.
I know a lot of my readers like to tell me that the blogosphere has too much of a sense of self-importance, and that we’re really not all that influential. I know that is not true. What we write is read by the White House, by Harry Reid’s office, by Nancy Pelosi’s office, and by the reporters that cover Washington for the major newspapers and the cable news. In this sense, we are opinion leaders. While the Establishment press likes to call us parasitical, we’re actually in a more symbiotic relationship. The White House complains about us because they read us and because they know that we’re depressing turnout.
Now, if I am an activist for civil liberties, or gay rights, or immigration reform, or for anti-corporate policies, then I’m not going to necessarily trim my sails to apologize for the Democrats when they disappoint me. Someone has to keep the pressure on. On the other hand, on all of those issues, I know that the Republican Party is not an ally, and that anything that empowers them is harmful to my cause. And (this is important) I know that there is no third party on the horizon that is going to ride to the rescue. It does not profit me to argue that both sides are inadequate, because there are no alternatives. One side is better than the other, and depressing turnout for the better side is a boon for the worse side. This infuriating state of affairs can lead to endless impotent bleating, but it is sadly true.
How do I effectively advocate for civil liberties when my choices are between bad and worse? If the bad is in power, how do I lobby the bad without empowering the worse? These are not easy questions to answer. But one star to guide us is to keep the worse always before us. If your opinion actually matters…if it actually has any influence, then it must be put to use arguing against the worse.
I know that I have more influence on the administration when I criticize them because I deal with them fairly. If you wake up each day looking for a weakness to exploit, the administration begins to see you as an adversary and dismisses everything that you have to say. But, if you give them credit for their accomplishments and defend them against unfair attacks, they actually notice when you change course and offer some stinging rebukes.
It’s really as simple as ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ fairy tale.
Given the fact that the Republicans dominate talk radio, have their own cable news outlet, are over-represented in political speech generally, and benefit from the Citizens United decision, we don’t really have the luxury of piling on. If you think your issues will be better furthered by the Republicans, then go ahead and emphasize your disappointments.
While I lament much of what the Obama administration does and does not do, I recognize what they are protecting me from. Our political culture is sick, but it wants to be far worse.
