In a short Rolling Stone article called “The Way Out for Obama,” Matt Taibbi compares the Democrats and the Republicans:
Democrats and Republicans are basically the same on a lot of issues: They both voted for the Iraq War, they both love pork and useless weapons programs, they both lift their skirts for Wall Street. But they have one major stylistic difference: Republicans are unafraid to exercise power, while Democrats try to run government like one of those pansy-ass T-ball leagues, where every kid gets to have a hit, nobody loses, and nobody has to go home with an ouchie or hurt feelings.
Well, T-ball is over. If Obama wants to pass any kind of [health care] reform — even one as riddled with industry giveaways as the current measure — he is finally going to have to take a swing in anger. If he doesn’t, it may well mark the moment when our government conceded that it can never force any powerful industry to accept any kind of change, no matter how minimal.
Its a mistake to think about the political divide being Republican / Democrat. The real divide is conservative / liberal. The conservative democrats aren't being weak. They are using bi-partisanship and "conservative principles" as cover for doing the bidding of their corporate masters which they do eagerly.
Pat
I'm confused about "conservative".
Is balancing the budget conservative? If so, Clinton was conservative, and Reagan, Bush and Bush were flaming liberals.
Is conserving finite resources conservative, or drilling faster to use up what's left?
Is preserving the environment conservative, or is it conservative to cut regulations restricting pollution?
Is it conservative to keep government out of medical decisions, or to try to pass laws to prohibit certain procedures?
Dan,
Contemporary conservatism seems to be based on a single idea—preventing any community-based action that restrains private ambition.
Unless it's sexual.