True, but I still must admit to being surprised at the tenacity with which Charles and Woj have been defending the record of the Obama administration despite their expressed reservations about its education policy and escalation of the Afghan war. It makes me wonder what line the administration would have to cross for them to join the administration's critics on the left, both inside the party and outside of it.
^^^^^ CB: The point is you should be spending a lot more time criticizing the right wing. I have to respond to your misplaced emphasis.
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Their analyses of the possibilities which were open to an administration with a broad mandate for change and in control of both Houses of Congress align much more closely with those of Obama and his inner circle and the Democratic Leadership Council than they do with the Progressive Democrats of America, Move On, Huffington Post, Krugman, Reich, Olbermann, Maddow and the other groups and individuals comprising the party's liberal wing. Though they wouldn't endorse the epithet, they clearly share Robert Gibbs' indictment of the party's "professional left".
^^^^ CB: "Professional left" is the most respectful epithet yet to be used by a sitting Presidential administration for the left. Those who wouldn't be satisfied with Kucinich as President, as Gibbs said, are ultra-leftist.
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Which is fair enough. Woj and Charles are both serious and thoughtful and I treat their views respectfully. But they're kidding themselves when they claim to be approaching this subject from the standpoint of "class struggle" and "socialism".
^^^^^ CB: Uh excuse me. I'm not the one kidding myself in this debate (smile). Mine is the approach most firmly rooted in a Communist and working class struggle partisan point of view. Wojtek can speak for himself.
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So while debates like this may change precious few minds, at least in the short run, they can be of benefit in bringing forward new information and further clarifying the issues, and revealing in terms of where people stand in relation to them and how they may be evolving politically.