Dear Friends,

I’m disappointed too. I’m less disappointed in what this President said he was going to be vs. what he is than I am between that and what I wanted him to be. He has not lived up to all of his promises, but even looking at his promises he never said he was going to be our knight in shining armor. Republicans said he would be… but who can trust anything they say at this point?

I am frustrated and I am disappointed because I believe, like you do, that there are rare, once in a generation opportunities being lost. I’m frustrated that what I think could be possible right now is not getting done. But as disheartened as I may be at lost potential, even at some outright failures, I have never for a day been sorry I voted for this president. The other choice was John McCain! Hell, if that had happened, Karl Rove wouldn’t be throwing millions of dollars at Republican candidates from Houston, TX… he would still be in Washington throwing hundreds of billions of dollars down far right rat hole after far right rat hole. Are things bad? Yes. Would they have been even worse? Hell yes!

This is not the time… well, there never is a time, but certainly this is not the time for liberals to throw up their hands in defeat. This is the time to take the toe hold we have and make it a foot hold, so we can make that a step, so we can… you know… something like that. I’m not sure exactly where that analogy leads.

But understand my point. This is when we double-down. This is when we fight to reform a broken and corrupted system. This is when we fight to use Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson to demonstrate our power and our conviction. This is when we toy with the Democratic establishment with talk of primary challenges from Al Franken, or Alan Grayson, or Anthony Weiner. This is when we send letters of support to members of the Progressive Caucus and demand that they stand firm.

Our nation is in a deep hole of conservatism that you and I know skirts along the thin edge of fascism. I would love to jump right out of that hole with an FDR or a JFK or a Johnson, but if that isn’t an option I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up and watch while the hole gets dug deeper and deeper. I just can’t in good conscience allow that to happen unopposed.

We have to make our stand.

$200 Million GOP Campaign Avalanche Planned, Democrats Stunned.

This is unfortunate, but the dynamics described on the left are pretty accurate, and for good reason.  Unions and the progressive activist base have been focused on issues advocacy and primary challenges over Democratic Party solidarity because the Obama administration and the Democratic Party leadership have made it perfectly clear that they will not advocate for our issues.  At the very least they’ve made it perfectly clear that they won’t advocate for our issues while the bastards we’re waging primary challenges against still cling to power! And they’ve made it perfectly clear that they don’t give a damn about union and progressive issues because after the conservative Democrats we’re challenging in the primaries totally wrecked the progressive and labor agenda… they backed them for re-election anyway!

What was Joe Lieberman’s punishment for stripping healthcare reform of the public option after even the public option that was left had been watered down to practically nothing?  What was Bill Nelson’s punishment for the damage he did?  What was Mary Landrieu’s punishment for the damage she did.  What was Blanche Lincoln’s punishment for the damage she did?  What was Stupak’s punishment for the unbelievable way he sold out two generations of progressives fighting desperately to hold on the gains they’ve made for women’s health?

The answer?  Nothing! They all have the full support of the administration and Democratic leadership.  Joe Lieberman included!

But the administration can’t have it both ways.  If they want the money and energy of progressive activists and union families they have to give us a reason why we should give it to them.  We don’t give a rats ass about their priorities or their careers.  We were unified during the election because they were supposed to be the path to our priorities.  They weren’t.

We are fighting for the same thing we were fighting for before… our issues.  But now we’re also fighting to reform the entire system because if there’s one thing that we’ve learned from our landslide electoral victory and our anorexic legislative victories is that the system ain’t working.  And where are they on that?  Nowhere.  They seem to be fine with the system the way it is.  Whatever.  Everybody makes choices.  Back Blanche Lincoln.  Coddle Joe Lieberman.  But do it without us.  Call us after the elections if you’d like to rethink how you are going to handle the next two years.