“Boxer endorses Lieberman,” and in response, BOPNews, gets all atwitter because she mentioned netroots – rather than slam her for such a backwards, gutless stance. But I guess they got so excited by having an actual senator mention netroots that they plumb forgot what it is (they say) they’re fighting for. Talk about star-struck…
Netroots, that buzzword hyped by DailyKos, is all about how they, a self-proclaimed elite of liberal blogdom, will take over and reform the Democratic Party all by themselves. Just by using the Net too! No need for all that tedious organizing, endless flyering, building of events, and creating coalitions. Nosirree, their shiny new Net widgets will magically do it all, quickly too, and then the Democratic establishment will simply melt away in the face of their cyberspace onslaught.
This is so naive I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
How progressive is Kos? Judging from his recent post about how he’s a “Libertarian Democrat”, I’d say, not very. In fact, libertarian Democrats definitely tilt to the right side of the party. That goes along with other Kos views about not appearing too radical, stopping all that damned noisy protest, and adopting a bland centrist platform in order to attract voters from the Right – in short, almost precisely what Bill Clinton did, and what directly led to the implosion of the Democratic Party from the 90’s on. Faced with a party of marshmallows, voters went elsewhere.
For real change to occur, you need to be noisy, you need to be in their face. That’s why immigrant rights is now a central issue in the country. Millions got in the streets, marched, and sent their message loud and clear. They accomplished more in two months than all the netroots have put together. That’s because they have an actual base and genuine on-the-ground organizing, not just some nebulous bitstream of netroots. Nor are they so dim that they think they’ll just waltz into DC and the established powers will roll over and say, scratch my tummy. No, they know it will be a serious fight, one that may take years.
Also, if Kos wants to play in the fast lane he needs a way thicker skin. Maureen Dowd (at least a potential ally) just mildly criticized him, and he responded by calling her an “insecure, catty bitch.” He thinks netroots will take over DC and he even can’t handle a mild slam? Wait’ll he pisses off James Carville. Then he’ll know what it’s like to be sliced and diced.
If netroots wants to take over the Democratic Party, they will need to knock the Carvilles out of power first, a task I doubt they truly comprehend or are capable of doing.
PS. Will this post earn me entry into this elite club?
[tags]netroots[/tags]