The kindergarten of spoiled, affluent children pretending to dabble in politics, otherwise known as Netroots Nation, hit a new low when the White House communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, was subjected to one of the most immature and unprofessional snark interviews ever given to a political operative who had been invited as a guest to this event.
Kaili Joy Gray, a Daily Kos front pager, during the interview and taking it upon herself to speak for all Progressives, smugly informed Pfeiffer that Progressives were “tired of hearing about Lily Ledbetter.”
As a lifelong Democrat and a liberal, that makes me feel satisfied and vindicated.
It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt what I’ve been saying for donkey’s (pun intended) years: That for the past 40 years, the Democratic Party, particularly its resurrected Leftwing, who eschewed the term liberal in favour ofProgressive because they were incapable of remembering any history prior to the 1960s, totally abandoned, not only the unions, but the working class in general, in favour of idealogies spouted by well-educated, affluent professionals with no traditional or emotional ties to either the labour movement or the working class.
Prior to 1972, the Democratic party was all about the Lily Ledbetters of this world. The Democratic party was the party of the working class and the working poor, in the rural South, the rural Midwest and the Rust Belt states. These people were dismissed as herd followers, too unimportant to cultivate, too dumb and too racist. All assumptions pushed to such a point and to such a degree that many Progressives now believe them as absolute fact.
I would imagine Kaili Joy Gray is tired of hearing about Lily Ledbetter. To Kaili Joy, Lily’s just a dumb hick Southern woman who’s probably inbred, speaks atrociously and probably has cooties. She probably goes to a fundamentalist church on Sundays, plays with rattlesnakes and speaks in tongues. She’s poor. She’s country, and she bores the hell out of latte-sipping, designer-clad, Coastal-living Kaili Joy. Red states, red people.
Somewhere in the Great Beyond, FDR is shaking his head sadly. JFK and Bobby are biting their lips in anger. LBJ looks at Harry Truman and demands how the hell these people can call themselves Democrats, and Harry replies, “Never mind how the hell they can call themselves Democrats, who the fuck are these people?”
That’s exactly what I’d like to know.
Marion,
I have been lurking here for some time but have not commented. Excellent piece. I am so happy that the real progressives are pushing back against the “crazy.” I have been watching in horror as these folks with loud megaphones stole the narrative about this Presidency, and the corporate media ran with it, gleefully. I am an arts educator in Pennsylvania that is feeling the real pain of the election of 2010. Our GOP Governor is just as bought and paid for as Scott Walker, but as of yet is getting away with it. I stood helpless as the folks that actively volunteered in 2008 went happily to DC for the John Stewart “show,” leaving few of us left to fend for ourselves in our GOTV efforts. These clueless political neophites thought that Obama would somehow conquer all corporate interests, and every Republican, and every narrow minded right winger with his intellect, good looks and charisma, all by himself. They would just go away. They didn’t listen to the “this is just the beginning message” in Grant Park.
The only good thing to come out of this Netroots thing is they have been “outed” and we now have to ignore them and keep pressing on. They are irrelevant.
Thanks again.
MArion – I am aghast. How could ANYONE not celebrate Lily”s fight and that win? We have massive assaults on working people, both private sector and public, in which we all ought to be involved!
Could it be that fighting for Lily and blue collar or public sector workers is beneath us because WE are not formulating the messages and issues??? For those of us who are not in the fight, there is a role: HELP OUT and do what’s needed. Are we so arrogant we can’t follow as well as lead?
I cannot believe this Daily Kos “writer” had the RW effrontery to admit that caring for working people was not important. Not important? Then who IS worthy of our concern? I knew full well back east that LGBT issues were NOT front-burner with unions. Nope. They were BACK burner issues – care and concern without blazing lights. Acceptance and fair treatment without regard to sexual orientation. I knew several blue collar industrial union lesbians who’d tell you exactly the same. People knew. People accepted. People kept working. Together. When it came time for parades, LGBT people were in the Labor Day parade. No question. Any snark was NOT permitted. Full equality, never mind who you were.
AS I work with group after group around issues in CA, I keep finding progressives who have to lead or they won’t play. Lead? First, union people lead. They “get it” in ways the rest of us don’t. Second, communities of color lead – they don’t need us white folks to lead them out of bondage. They do just fine. Best we can do – show up, ask what’s needed, do what is asked.
Progressives say to “other” people: “You know what you REALLY should do…” to which the only answer should be: “Yes. We do. Help us do it.”
I was in DC January 2009 when the Presidential motorcade came streaming along Pennsylvania Avenue. Turns out the President was returning from Capitol Hill to SIGN the Lily Ledbetter Act. That will live with me as one of the most glorious moments I’ve ever been near – WOW! For one, I’m not tired of LIly or anyone such as the Wal-Mart women who stand strongly for their rights that then help the rest of us. I’m energized by Lily, energized by the Mid-Western working people, energized by every human being who seeks justice and by a President who opens the doors and makes obtaining it possible.
Nope. NOT tired of Lily. Tired of Daily Kos and snark. That’s not “progressive”. That’s just dumb.