- 'An End to the Southern Strategy, But No Post-Racial America' says David Love
- "A Question of Place": An essay on the power of community
- Just Equally Speaking….
- Eagles owe Philadelphia the 8 million it needs to keep libraries open
- who would like to see Verizon offer cable TV in Phila?
- Council Committee Passed the Freeze
- Carol Campbell Passes Away
- My first trip to the public library
- Fight digital exclusion
- What if half of Philadelphia didn't have roads?
My favorite/least favorite topic: the promise and pitfalls of the contemporary Democratic party
Submitted by jennifer on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 11:29am.
I've been all tied in knots about the party I want to see emerge and the DLC-influenced centrist one that I fear is sticking around. It's the "Clinton referendum" question, the worry that Obama's hope-and-unity just means more unproductive compromise. And all this at a time when the Republican discourse is kind of insane (one odd tax proposal after another, somehow following Bin Laden to the gates of Hell and shooting him there) and Paul Krugman has convincingly argued for a new constructive embrace of partisan-ism.
Anyway, this Thursday, Glenn Hurowitz is reading from his just-published book, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party, at Robin's Bookstore.
The canned summary:
Coming just in time for election season, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party chronicles the extraordinary stories of five politicians and activists: three "progressive heroes" who exhibited rare political courage - and through it found unexpected political success, and two "spineless weasels" who embraced The Politics of Fear and rode it to ultimate failure.
The book reveals how Senator Paul Wellstone used his courage to overcome a quirky personality, an occasionally hysterical style and, most of all, an ideology considerably to the left of his constituents, eventually becoming a national hero.
It tells the dramatic story of how the same foundations and corporations that engineered the right-wing takeover of the Republican Party used junk political science to move Democrats to the right as well. Hurowitz shows how the legacy of Bill Clinton, widely proclaimed his generation's greatest political talent, will actually burden the Democratic Party and the progressive movement for decades to come.
A work of astounding insight, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party promises to transform political discourse in 2008.
Given how some people feel about Paul Wellstone around here, I thought maybe some of you would like to come out.
Robin's Bookstore, 108 S. 13th Street (13th and Sansom)
Thursday, January 17 at 6 pm
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Man, no love
for my masterful hyperlinking.
It's not you, it's the guy
Hurowitz is the early frontrunner for the 2008 Ralph Nader Political Pragmatism Award, having already run attack ads on BOTH Barack Obama AND Hillary Clinton, something not even Mitt Romney has done yet, although I'm sure the fading Mormon Robot approves.
I mean, I loves me some John Edwards too, having made the trek to Iowa on his behalf myself, but even the Edwards camp understands the deleterious potential of what Hurowitz's PAC is doing, and is avoiding it.
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality
John Kennedy, creatively paraphrasing Dante
Ha
well, I guess you can question his non-subscription to your positive approach in person!
You mean heckle?
He means well. For example, his PAC's website prescribes watching the movie Gandhi.
But not as often as it precribes buying his book.
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality
John Kennedy, creatively paraphrasing Dante
Actually
I meant chide! But sure, heckle, okay.
Fear and courage...and patience
Actually...there was a really good interview with Todd Gitlin on radio times this morning about the presidential campaign coverage and his new book. (The Bulldozer and The Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats and the Recovery of American Ideals.)
It hit a lot of the same themes, in light of the 2008 election:
Here: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.html
The conversation invariably turned to something I think about a lot, which is the authoritarian structure of the GOP, esp when it comes to Congress. A lot of liberals I know have been frustrated with the inability of a newly-minted Dem majority to pass anything they want. They are impatient, and I totally understand why.
It is hard for folks to understand that what Pelosi is doing is far more difficult to do, and takes longer to achieve - but has much better long-term effects: which is, run the Democratic party more democratically. There is (very very occasionally) such a thing as losing for the right reasons.
...however...NOT IN 2008!
...however...NOT IN 2008!