Sigh. The Administration is the enemy, or the current manifestation of the enemy. It is silly to criticize the enemy. One goes to work to marshall what opposition is possible. And forget about the Republicans. The Demoncrats are, it is true, pushing the Republicans further and further to the right. It is also true that the Republicans will sooner or later (not later than 8 years or so) be in power again. It's a basic rhythm of U.S. politics. Then the Demoncrats will sooner or later (not more than 8 to 12 years) regain power. So defeating the Republicans next year accomplishes nothing lasting.
What leftists ned to be concerned with is the general movement of u.s. politics, which has been steadily to the right since the Carter-Reagan Administration. (Carter started the wars in Central America and Afghanistan. Subsequent administrations have only built on his initiatives.) And to reverse that trend, the DP, not the RP, is the prime enemy: it is the DP that sets general agendas, then the RP, in order to remasin the opposition party, moves even further right. That further move to the right (forced by the DP) attracts (or makes room for) more of those elements labeled "crazies," frightening more left liberals to "stick to the DP," regarcless of its policies, giving that party room to move further right, thus forcing . . . .
The "problem," then, if one must focus on electoral politcs, is how to reverse the DP's steady movement to the right. But that "problem" cannot be affected by any of the means available within the realm of electoral politics. _No_ political party has _ever_ moved "left," in response to electoral pressure or (worse) pundit's urgung. It just doesn't happen. Marv is terribly wrong with his account of the Roosevelt Administrationl That Administration came into office with a conservative (budget balancing) program. Its first moves were much like Obama's: a focus on the banks. But 'external' forces made all the difference. The CPUSA was growing; Huey Long and Townsend were active. And so forth. The Administration _had_ to move "left," but of course as soon as it seemed feasible, it moved back to a conservative fiscal policy. It also began to deemphasize WPA, preparing to place the emphasis on the [forget the initials now], and then with a sigh of relief replace "New Deal" with "Win the War." And of course the dismantling of what had been accomplished (very little) began almost at once, with the Republican victory in 1946 and the Taft-Harley Act.
But the Republican Party had been pulled "left" itself. Landon, Wilkie, Dewey, Eisenhower, Warren and so forth.
And why the hell do people on this list continue to make fools of themselves with that stupid word play, "Repugs." It's really pretty asinine; losers getting their revenge by calling names.
Carrol