From: raghu <[email protected]>
On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 2:51 PM, c b <[email protected]> wrote: > What kind of clout could the American Left bring to this table? Zero. > It?s small size and its divided leaderless nature just didn?t make the > cut. It was not all the Left?s fault though. The abolitionists of > Lincoln?s time had a civil war with which to pressure Lincoln to free > the slaves. The labor rebels of Roosevelt?s time had sit-downs, > general strikes and at least the ?threat of proletarian revolution to > get Roosevelt?s attention. They got their place at the table because > they had real clout. What a typically cowardly copout. If Obama didn't do anything for progressives, why it is the progressives' fault! ^^^^ CB: Point is that FDR and Lincoln were not so voluntarily courageous as you might think. They were "made" to do it by strong social movements from below ( not a small group of progressives). There is no comparable social movement for progressives to represent in making Obama do it. Lincoln was very pragmatic/opportunist. ^^^^^^^^ Obama is like Asimov's witch doctor who simply couldn't lose: "If the poor sap isn't cured, it's because he didn't drum up enough faith." ^^^^^ CB; Not exactly. ^^^^ Or to put it another way, if the Left had enough "clout", what the fuck would we need this clown for anyway? ^^^^^^^^ CB: Without a mass of voters from a social movement to represent, the Left is clowning at leadership. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
