People Power

I talk a lot about the need to reform Washington. We need at least one party that has the interests of its constituents at heart rather than rich donors, think tank specialists, and corporate lobbyists. Democrats are the party most likely to support those interests. In the 90s the DLC pro-business mentality ignored the middle class and became infautated with itself and its ideas of triangulation, straying too far from the core Democratic message. The result was all too often Republican vs. Republican lite, and voters opted for the genuine article.

Over the last few years Democrats have been gathering both online and offline through progressive organizations like DFA and the Center for American Progress, slowly coming to the realization that a politics of contrast, one that offers conviction and substantive difference, is the only politics that will win. To do this, those Democrats were willing to have a big tent (the Minority Leader in the Senate, arguably the most powerful federal elected official in the Democratic Party, is pro-life). But those who upset the brand, who used Republican talking points, who would bash Democrats on Fox News, who claimed in Wall Street Journal editorials that "we undermine the President's credibility at our peril," were simply not going to be allowed to continue such damage unchallenged.

I say that to say that a new Quinnipiac poll shows Ned Lamont leading Joe Lieberman in the August 8 Democratic primary. Honestly I don't think Joementum has a chance now. The primary has no consequences for him, since he's announced that he'll run as a "petitioning Democrat" if he loses. But it's important for the progressive movement, not just the blogs but progressive organizations in Connecticut and nationwide, to assert that they want Democrats to be Democrats again. Joe Lieberman is a relic of the past, who delights his supporters in Washington and acts with their interests in mind. The future is one in which Democrats are accountable, one in which Democrats use the grassroots and people power to further the progressive message.

And there's no turning back.