Perhaps it's their unshakable sense of moral superiority, or maybe it's some lamentable need to prove themselves indefatigably subversive and thus ideologically purest, but whatever the cause, the "professional left" is a self-destructive, stumblebumbling gang of Dudley Do-Right clowns who simply don't understand coalition or pluralistic politics, which is to say, American politics.
"[W]hile White House officials Thursday described Obama’s appearance on the [Daily Show] an air-clearing 'success,' " writes Politico, "it was also stark proof that Obama can’t expect the same got-your-back support from the progressive media as George W. Bush enjoyed from conservative TV and radio hosts."
The "progressive media" are, you see, the noblest of the noble and brimming with self-righteous integrity, which means they're willing to assist, through their unremitting assaults on center-left pols who must operate in our real electoral universe of 40 percent conservatives and 35 percent moderates, in the return of another Bush presidency or Gingrich Congress.
"The president himself gets a little cranky at the idea he's disappointed the left," wrote Keith Olbermann to Politico. " 'I have suggested to the White House that some maintenance of progressives on their turf would at least counteract this GOP/mainstream media theme that' the White House has stopped caring about the party’s progressive wing." Say what? The theme of unrequited love and cold embraces spews forth from the "GOP/mainstream media"? Is Olbermann joking? kidding us? kidding himself?
Let's cue the "fighting" Adam Green, founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, to make my point:
"President Obama could have fought for and passed the public option [and] a more effective stimulus," Green told Politico, "and ... he refused to step on Republican toes, pre-emptively caved to senators with no mandate to oppose him and refuses to acknowledge his mistakes as Democratic candidates across the country face an uninspired electorate as a result."
Magical thinking -- "could have fought for and passed...." That's all Mr. Green and others of his strategically amateurish ilk have to offer, in addition to magical conclusions:
“Democrats need to learn the right lesson from this year's election, which is, voters will show up if you fight harder for a popular progressive agenda."
My dear Mr. Green, it evidently requires a "progressive conservative," as he has called himself, to explain the facts of political life to you. From today's NY Times, I give you the serendipitous David Brooks:
"[T]he fact is that Obama will win 99.9 percent of the liberal vote in 2012, and in a presidential year, liberal turnout will surely be high. On the other hand, he cannot survive the defection of the independents. In 2008, independent voters preferred Democrats by 8 percentage points. Now they prefer Republicans by 20 points, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."
As for what all that spells, see "Music Man" and pool tables.
Memo to movement progressives: We live in a complex nation, overrepresented in traditional conservative thought and moderate temperament. Progress is, and always has been, incremental. Obama comprehends that. You don't.