[lbo-talk] Nice DD bit on Savage Mules

[Carrol Cox]

As Adolph Reed notes (via Dennis’ blog, and in an article that looks
like it’s one to print out and reread every time Obama gives a stirring
set-piece speech, to re-establish bearings), there’s something a bit
dumb about being repeatedly “shocked” by Democratic moves to the right
(most recently, that wiretapping thing); they happen so frequently and
systematically that they can’t be explained away as “pragmatism” or “
compromise”; the Dem leadership does these things because they want to

	From DD's review of Dennis Perrin, Savage Mules

I have said many times on this list (and on pen-l) that the DP is _not_
cowardly_, _not_ stupid, _not_ opportunistic  (in any special way).
Rather it is courageous, intelligent and principled in its defense of
corporate capitalism -- EVEN when that defense means defeat at the
polls.

Specifically, Obama is _not_ 'swinging right' to get elected; rather, he
is (consciously) risking defeat in order to ensure that his campaign
will not exert "left" pressure on his administration.

One common expression that aids in the illusion of the DP as somehow
progressive is the reference to the ability of Democrats to turn victory
in to defeat. The DP does not blunder into defeat; it knowingly follows
policies which risk defeat rather than in any way endanger those
policies.

Carrol