The Audacity of Pushing: The Role of the Left during American Presidential Primaries

If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked me, “Daniel, you are a leftie, why aren’t you voting for Barack Obama?”

…Perhaps I am getting old and waxing nostalgic about days long past, but I can remember a time when we staged protests at the Democratic National Convention. I can remember a time when people were more concerned with the what of candidates than the who of candidates. I remember a time when we wouldn’t allow ourselves to get mesmerized by the allure of whatever media construction the parties threw out there and stuck to what I am going to term the politics of pushing.

Before I elaborate on this idea of the politics of pushing, let me briefly do a run-down on presidential history. 1) There has never been a left American President. The few times Presidents have done anything remotely leftist, they were pressured: Lincoln and the abolitionists, FDR and the labor movement, Johnson and the civil rights movement. 2) American Presidents have always tried to co-opt the left. Lincoln co-opted the abolitionists with this original plan to ‘reconstruct’ Louisiana. FDR co-opted the labor movement into not striking and accepting business unionism. Johnson co-opted the civil rights movement into not doing the poor people’s march and accepting affirmative action.
This brief excursus was meant to illustrate the at best tenuous relationship the American left has had with its presidents. If we want something of the president, we must be willing to push them and we must be forever vigilant.

So, with that said, we find ourselves in the thick of the presidential primaries that occurs every four years. And instead of hearing about what issues we want our next president to deal with, all I hear is who are you voting for. Fortunately, there are three issues that the left has put on the table: universal health care, global warming and the war in Iraq. Although some might quarrel that these are not left issues; rather, these are mainstream issues that everybody cares about is indicative of how successful the left has been. Four years ago, during Kerry’s campaign, it was taboo to talk about Iraq. It was too divisive and the election was too important. But now, the issue has become less divisive and more galvanizing. What, abu-ghraib wasn’t enough? Somehow 2,000 dead soldiers are okay but 3,000 is intolerable?

Even if those who thought the war was divisive back then were right, that only makes the present time ripe for a left resurgence. Particularly during the presidential primaries when candidates are fashioning their platforms and more attentive to the electorate, we should be pushing issues, not pushing candidates. So, you are for a withdrawal of troops in Iraq…great…now we want a commitment to close Guantanamo. So, you are for universal health care…great, now we want an increase in funding for food stamps. So, you think Bush was a bad president…great, now we want a commitment that you prohibit signing statements. This is the politics of pushing. This is the time to push the candidates to the left. In my opinion, no candidate is on the left. It is just not possible. Between the two party system, the special interests, the electoral system, etc…., I just don’t see how it could happen. And so to back a candidate now is in some respects to make light of just how inept, corrupt, and dysfunctional our government has become, is becoming, and continues to become. This is the time, when the parties are still picking, when we on the left should be arguing over issues about what we need and what we want from our next president. I am not looking for hope; I am looking for demands.