Standing Our Ground

The 'Yes, We Can' music video made by Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am is the Obama video making the rounds going into today's primary. And while I acknowledge it's powerful, it's not the video to me that best sells his candidacy. The video that does is one his campaign made a year ago... chronicling his opposition to the Iraq war, from 2002 to now.



I was passing along that video to another interested party yesterday (and rewatching it in the process), when a line in it stood out to me. In a public television interview in 2004, after his election to the Senate, he said-

"This raises a broader issue of the Democratic party. I think it's important for us to stand our ground, and take our licks, rather than what sometimes is our habit, which is to cave, and then whine about it afterwards. Which makes us not only look weak, but also petty."

And Dr. Obama there correctly diagnosed what has been the party's biggest problem in recent years (caving-- out of fear-- and then complaining later that they didn't get their agenda through). The Democrats are now more trusted than the Republicans on every single issue-- including national security-- and it's time they started acting like it. Such spine would particularly be helpful in the ongoing battle over the revisions to the FISA law.

One question Democrats must ask themselves as they go to vote today (or in a later primary if you're not a Super Tuesday state) is which candidate has a better record of standing their ground... and who's more likely to cave all together, or to 'compromise' away the backbone of their progressive agenda. Whose presence on the ballot in November better helps gain the extra Senators and congressmen we need to get past GOP obstruction? Whose record is overall stronger on standing up for core progressive values? Etc.

While wonks like Paul Krugman and others are getting lost in the minutiae of the debates over issues like health-care (important, natch), realists must understand that these differences mean nothing if the next President lacks the broad appeal, political skills, and spine to see these fights through. I'll leave it up to you-- with a wink and a nod-- to decide which one of our two remaining choices that is.