Reply #8: Hi wisteria!

[karynnj]

:hi:

I wonder if some of the anger is because all of DU's prior history was during Bush's administration. Most people's energies were spent attacking Bush, advocating for one Democrat over the others or working to elect Democrats. Obama's election caused a sea change.

Some were almost startled to find that achieving the goal we had - electing a Democratic President didn't immediately fix all the problems. Some of the attacks seem to stem from disappointments in finding that Obama will not do everything they assumed (often in contradiction to what Obama said) he would do. This in a vague way is like most of the 2005 attacks on Kerry - although in Kerry's case what he failed to do was to win. On DU, there are some people stuck at this level - and like the people who attacked Kerry - most were people who supported others in the primaries who impatiently feel had their person become President everything would be better.

But, many of the people who dealt with the normal returning to real life after the incredible highs of election night and the inauguration are trying to figure out what advocates do when their party is in power. To some very real extent, it is easier to have people engaged in opposition rather than support - you don't have to agree on what the policy should be or even why something is wrong and the goal is to elect Democrats. Electing Democrats is something where you can see - first by polls then by votes - that you are winning. There is also a fixed time frame. The goals are easily defined and - in themselves, created some unity once the primary was over.

Now, on the Presidential level, it is too early to be working to Obama's re-election and hopefully he will do well enough that there will be no real primary fight. So, instead of looking over all the interesting possibilities and having all the excitement of that choice and seeing a movement built - the interests of the Democratic party is focused on governing and getting an agenda passed. This is after all why we wanted Democrats in power.

Some on DU primarily support a person, Obama, or a party and others are advocates on various issues. Fortunately, many support all three - and are willing to accept that Obama and the Democratic party may not be where they want them on every issue, but overall they are worth supporting. But, on every thread, there are strictly people/party supporters who take any disagreement as disloyalty. There are also strick issue advocates who are pushing for positions that Obama never was for (like single payer health care)who are unwilling to accept major improvements in programs if they aren't exactly what they want. Where it gets frustrating to me is when the people/party supporters try to stop serious discussions on issues or where the issue people start speaking of "spine" and "caving" especially when what passed was really an accomplishment.