Obama?

[MFrohike]

74. It does and it doesn't

DU is full of people who will defend their team against outsiders, however they define outsiders. Some view outsiders as outside the amorphous left, some view it as outside the Democratic party, some as outside their point of view, and some as anyone who questions the team at all. That is as mainstream as it gets.

The difference here is that in what's supposed to be a safe place for Democrats and the like-minded to chat is that you get in-house fighting precisely because it's a safe place. Part of the problem with a safe place is that it closes off other points of view and tends to create and reinforce circular thinking. It often leads to ideas being defended past a reasonable point and repeated denials based not on policy but personality. It also reveals the shallowness of thinking in American politics because every boring political manta is trotted out at some point. "You don't understand politics", "you're not a true xyz," "the enemy of the good is the perfect," and every other boring political aphorism you can name. There's a lot of the typical superficial thought that is typical of mainstream politics like name calling. I see the word neo thrown around quite a bit, but I highly doubt more than a handful of people were familiar with the terms neo-conservative or neo-liberal prior to the Bush regime. Neo has become a perjorative that really doesn't mean anything specific, sort of like calling someone un-American.* It's a bit tiring and reminiscent of high school, though I've come to realize that high school is a preview of life.

It's not representative because politics is a passing interest for most people. They think voting is the extent of citizenship. That kind of boggles the mind, but that's another story.

*I personally think the only un-American thing someone can do is accuse someone else of being un-American. There's a paradox in there that I've never bothered to think out, but it's just a saying to shut up idiots so I haven't bothered with it.