Time for Liberals to Get Real

The lesson left-wingers took away from the election, mistakenly, was they lost because President Obama was not liberal enough. They concluded this because Democratic congressmen who campaigned as unrepentant liberals were overwhelmingly reelected and those who backpedaled as "Republican-lite" were not.

True, only four of 83 members of the Democrat's congressional progressive caucus but half of the 54 members of the moderate Blue Dog caucus were defeated. What lefties fail to mention is Blue Dogs, for the most part, represent risky swing districts, many of which voted for John McCain in 2008, while progressives hold safe, solidly Democratic seats.

But their narrative fits nicely into liberal myth that their vision of America is the "will of the people" if only it weren't for -- name your culprit(s) -- Corporate Money, Fox News, Right-wing Subterfuge, et al.

Liberals simply refuse to acknowledge this is a center-right country, which is why Republicans can feverishly play to their base and for the most part not tick off independents. Obama doesn't have the same luxury. He can't be as progressive as Republicans can be conservative and still govern successfully.

Progressives will always constitute a permanent minority; at any given time only 25 to 35 percent of voters self-identify as "liberal." Given that status they need to adjust their tactics and learn to nibble instead of constantly falling on their sword over "principles."

By "nibble" I don't mean settling for some Democratic Leadership Council namby-pamby centrist agenda. Absolutely, fight tooth and nail for progressive causes and to stiffen the president's backbone but understand ideas must percolate. Fears must be alleviated. Resistance co-opted. The pretexts of the self-servers exposed. But at every step, like on health care, take what you can get and start nibbling again.

Liberal ideologues would accuse me of being an "accommodationist." But I ask them, what's the option? Quitting?

The liberal meme is that accommodation simply allows the built-up steam to escape. By keeping the lid on, i.e. refusing to compromise, pressure will eventually blow the pot apart bringing on a progressive utopia. But the sweep of American history is testament to successful nibbling not pot explosions.

Emancipation, progressive taxation, suffrage, unionization, Social Security, Medicare, civil rights, Head Start, social safety net, economic justice, environmental consciousness, living wage, gay marriage, universal health care. Every advance in the human condition came in fits and starts, often taking decades -- and the work is surely never done -- but are the results any less valid because they weren't accomplished overnight?

Liberals need to stop deluding themselves that they are a hair's breadth away from permanent political realignment and accept their historical role as the dreamers, the moral compass, the social conscience, and yes when needed the national noodge and nibble. Nibble.