Howard Dean joins the whinefest:
Addressing a telling moment in the health care debate, when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (a frequent Dean critic) called out progressive activists for running ads against conservative Democrats, Berman asked the former DNC Chair for his reaction.
“I’m not looking to pick another fight with Rahm Emanuel, but the contempt with which he held the progressive wing of the party was devastating and incredibly demoralizing,” Dean said. “That’s basically saying to your own people — you got us here, now FU.”
Here’s what happened:
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, [progressive activists] say, is the prime obstacle to the changes they thought Mr. Obama’s election would bring.
The friction was laid bare in August when Mr. Emanuel showed up at a weekly strategy session featuring liberal groups and White House aides. Some attendees said they were planning to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who were balking at Mr. Obama’s health-care overhaul.
“F—ing retarded,” Mr. Emanuel scolded the group, according to several participants. He warned them not to alienate lawmakers whose votes would be needed on health care and other top legislative items.
Rahm Emanuel didn’t say that progressives were retarded. He said that the decision to target Blue Dog Democrats with campaign ads was retarded. And his reasoning was that it would not convince them to support stronger health care reform, but alienate them and make it harder to pass anything at all. You can disagree with Emanuel’s assessment without walking around with wounded feelings for the rest of your life.
I can’t tell you how many times I have had this quote thrust in my face as evidence that the Obama administration doesn’t like the left. “If they want me to be enthusiastic, maybe they shouldn’t call me a retard.” I’ve seen it a thousand times, in posts, in emails, in comments, and in conversation. All I can say is, “Grow the Hell Up.”
We’ve got bigger problems that some perceived slight that is almost never accurately depicted. The president, the vice-president, and anyone who isn’t effing retarded is pointing to Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Carl Paladino, Christine O’Donnell, Mike Lee, Joe Miller, Ron Johnson, Ken Buck, Pat Toomey, and Speaker Boehner and telling you to wake the eff up.
Rahm Emanuel is leaving soon. After he’s gone, we’ll still be dealing with an administration that kept Sarah Palin from being a heartbeat away from the presidency, and that has a long list of accomplishments. And we’ll be trying to fight off a dangerous wave of seriously insane right-wing xenophobia, racism, and ultranationalism. Given the stakes, I don’t see a problem in calling people on their complacency.
