1115.org

Kevin Drum

…the goal of this election shouldn’t be just to win, it should be to talk a big chunk of the electorate into becoming friendlier toward liberal goals and ideas. Not just friendlier toward change, but friendlier toward specifically liberal change. That means a public that, at least at the margins, is more convinced that we need universal healthcare and that Obama can deliver it; that we need to withdraw from Iraq and reboot our foreign policy; and that some sacrifices are acceptable in the service of a serious energy policy. So far, though, Obama has simply been too cautious about standing up and really hammering home a simple, easily understood case for these and other specifically liberal goals.

Kevin is 100% correct about what the goal should be. And he’s right that in the current environment of 80% wrong-track numbers the presumptive Democratic nominee should be consolidating disaffected independents into the Democratic camp and developing a coherent narrative that would build momentum behind liberal policies. But it’s not that Obama has been cautious about doing this, it’s that he simply doesn’t believe it. From his fundraising materials to his speeches, Obama has been very careful to avoid identifying himself as a Democrat. He’s gone out of his way to endorse Republican ideas:

Well, I think there are a whole host of areas where Republicans in some cases may have a better idea.

As I pointed out in a previous post:

Let that sink in for a minute. This isn’t some red state Dem facing a tough reelection fight, it’s the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America. He goes on to list regulation, pollution control, merit pay for teachers, and tort reform as a few of these cases.

I don’t know how many times I need to repeat this, but bet that I will continue until people wake up: Barack Obama does not care about being a Democrat and he’s no liberal. The only thing that Obama has been faithful to is his own brand. And that’s fine if you happen not to care about your candidate not sharing your policy preferences, instead blindly trusting that he knows best. But that doesn’t sound like a very safe bet.

I used to think that Obama’s platform of Brand Obama just represented an opportunity cost, that he would eke out a win but fail to do the work necessary to build the foundation for successful progressive governance. With the polls going the wrong way (badly so in some key states), there might be a more tangible cost involved, the White House.