The National Interest asked me to respond to David Frum's Foggy Bloggom essay; Daniel Drezner also contributed. It's a short piece, of which I offer a sample:
With the power of the presidency still firmly in Republican hands, the left-wing “netroots” is in ascendance. Conservative bloggers, and their readership, are demoralized. Meanwhile, the Intrade betting markets are predicting an Obama win, and the progressives are happily planning what they will do with control of Congress and the presidency. But this may be their happiest hour. Once Obama (or Clinton) has office, talk will turn from policy to politics: the dirty business of assembling enough votes to write your ideas into law. And the netroots, whose greatest asset is their fiery conviction that they are the voice of righteousness, will be faced with an unpleasant conundrum: power or principle?
But this may be their happiest hour. Once Obama (or Clinton) has office, talk will turn from policy to politics: the dirty business of assembling enough votes to write your ideas into law.
Perfectly said. Being out of power brings an odd mix of despair, and, strangely, a sense of fun. When you're the minority party, you get to tee off constantly.
In addition, its too much fun thinking about what you might do in life.
Getting up every morning to accomplish your goals is work.
And then there is that odd instinct not to make choices, like between power and principle, which you can only delay for so long.
I love how McMegan labels the netroots "left-wing". If the netroots are left wing, what does that make Chomsky? You label them left wing because you want to make your far right views seem middle ground by comparison. Nice job of projecting.
JKC wrote: I love how McMegan labels the netroots "left-wing". If the netroots are left wing, what does that make Chomsky? You label them left wing because you want to make your far right views seem middle ground by comparison. Nice job of projecting.
Back through the looking glass, Alice. You're not sufficiently self-aware to know where the center is right now, or where you sit in relation to it. I'll give you a hint, though: Chomsky is extremely far to the left, and the "McMegan" slur puts you pretty close to netroots territory.
I'm looking forward to the angst among the Kos-monauts and their ilk when they find out that Obama is actually sensible, in a way they don't really grasp.
I agree that these folks aren't "left-wing". In most respects, they are the true conservatives, harking back to the good ol' days of protectionism, isolationism, and the exploitation of immigrants.
Well, relative notions of center are impossible to pin down. In a European or South American sense, to call the netroots leftist is pretty far off the mark; I'd say they are much more contemporarily liberal. But it's an unanswerable question.
I do have to say however that I think both Yglesias and Douthat have referred to Megan as "McMegan", so I'm not sure it constitutes the insult you think it does. But I could be wrong.
Like the right-wing got down to work and got soooo much done, and did such a great job of "getting to work."
Let's see, we've got a war that shouldn't have been waged, an economy on the brink of recession, middle America stumbling under the weight of baloon mortgages and 30% credit-card interest, a defecit beyond anyone's imagining, and it's owed to the Chinese.
Great job. I guess you're all right, Americans should just see the light and let conservatives continue to do their "hard work."
Freddie:
Don't forget Young Ezra Klein as well.
Robert Powell:
If you read any of the Progressive blogs(say OpenLeft for one), you'll see that people are clear-eyed about Obama. They do grasp it but then you couldn't complain about it if you don't actually read said blogs.
anony-mouse:
I am aware as aware can be. Just because you would like to think of yourself as the center doesn't make it so. Besides, as Jim Hightower has aptly put it, "The only thing in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead armadillos."
I am aware as aware can be. Just because you would like to think of yourself as the center doesn't make it so. Besides, as Jim Hightower has aptly put it, "The only thing in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead armadillos."
Who said that I think of myself (or would like to) as the center? Besides, some roads have bucolic medians and no armadillos.
It seems we have this discussion every so often, here and elsewhere.
The two-party system we have is good at chasing the political center of the country. Despite the frothing at the mouth and hand-wringing from both sides about the "extremist" the other party is bringing to the table, the political center of the country is split right between the Democratic and Republican candidates.
And yes, for those of you on the left, I think that W is too liberal for my tastes (the war is about the only thing I think he's halfway decent on) I'm not a centrist, and I'm damned proud of it.
It would be a much more interesting article if you wrote about how none of the comments about the netroots do not also apply to libertarians.