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(I think Democratic Party backbone is an oxymoron – promoted by eli_beckerman)

After the election of Scott Brown, the Democratic Party immediately began backing away from their health care bill.  Even this watered-down and ineffective bill is too much for them to stand up for.  The Democratic Party online fundraising organization, moveon.org, has taken note.  They are organizing a rally at Senator’s Kerry’s office in Boston.  In an alert titled “Tell Dems to fight!” they say

“Instead of backing down after last week’s election, Democrats in Washington need to deliver on the promises that got them elected, starting with the passage of real health care reform. But they won’t do it on their own-it’s up to all of us to demand bold leadership. So we’re holding an emergency rally – part of a nationwide day of action – urging Democrats in Washington to show some backbone and fight for working families!”

I wish them luck. They will need it.  All their rallies up to now haven’t succeeded in getting the Dems to “fight for working families”.  If they had any backbone, they would have pushed for single-payer health care.  But they even abandoned any meaningful public option.

And I’m also thinking “I’m glad I belong to a party that doesn’t need these kind of rallies to get its leaders to stop backsliding.

3 Comments

  1. eli_beckerman

    … calling on Obama to show backbone and asking “How Deep is Your Love for Poor and Working People?”

    Personally I think Obama has demonstrated tremendous backbone… in standing up against the progressive and hopeful and energized people who elected him. He’s toying with fire by ignoring an invigorated grassroots movement that has proven it can elect a President who “transcends politics” and has gotten a taste of its own strength. Of course, he’s basically just enacting the stuff he campaigned on, like escalating the war in Afghanistan, backing clean coal and other false climate solutions, and making the Massachusetts-style healthcare mandates the law of the land. As far as demonstrating his love of poor and working people, well, that’s another story entirely!

  2. thegreengrass

    The Democrats haven’t shown backbone in years, have they? There was much rejoicing when they became the majority in the House and Senate in 2006, and what did it get them? Nothing. Attempts at currying favor with Republicans. Jon Stewart the other day said it pretty well when he expressed exasperation that the Democrats couldn’t get anything done even though they have a far greater majority right now than the Republicans ever had under Bush. It’s fairly ridiculous that the can have a strong majority and struggle to get anything meaningful done.

    I know there tends to be more factioning on the left than on the right, so they don’t tend to all fold camp like Republicans do, but as a party they’ve become useless. The real shame here is that if someone liberal-leaning wants to vote for a major party, I feel like for the most part it’s to vote Not-Conservative, not Democrat. They might agree with some or most Green Party tenants, but they feel their vote is wasted. So they have to vote or a party that has the monopoly on the liberal vote, and can do nothing at all even once in total power. Ug.  

    • michael horan

      Yep–you’re right about “and can do nothing at all even once in total power.” I received a note this morning, forwarded from Health Care Action last night, highlighting these lines in the SOTU:

      But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.  (Applause.)

      Let me know.  Let me know.  (Applause.)  I’m eager to see it.

      And noting that, in fact, someone does–or did–have a better approach. His name is Barack Obama (2003 version):

      I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross

      National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.

      Well, they took it all back. And what did we get? No single-payer advocates even invited to the “healthcare summit.” Backroom deals with Big Pharma. Followed by ongoing the bungled attempt to get a watered-down, insubstantial bill passed.

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