Now's Not the Time . . . By Ms. Julie Driscoll

Now's Not the Time . . . .

by Julie Kindle Driscoll on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 2:42am

Part of being a Democrat/liberal/progressive is the ability to extend the olive branch, to create a tent big enough for all types, even those with divergent opinions.  Okay, I'm talking shit now, because that didn't work. On to Plan B.

Plan B: It's time for us to cull our own herd.  Do we really want people hanging around who are lukewarm, at best, in support of our President?  I know I don't. I don't have the time or energy to expend on those in our own party who abandoned the President and, in part, helped create the rout that we saw Tuesday. I don't want to waste any time on those in our own party who have publicly lent credence to the wingnuts' opinion of our President, and who have given a nod of approval to the right-wing's mission to derail him. Support the President who's gone through hell supporting us. Be willing to take the shots that the President has taken for us. Stand at the side of the President who hasn't abandoned us. With the stakes this high, we don't need anybody on our side who wouldn't flinch to see him come crashing down. Now's not the time.

Plan B: For the professional left and Blue Dog Dems, get off the fence, get the splinters out of your asses, and stand on the side that you voted in. There is no room for equivocation. Those who don't see how high the stakes are will not be able to do the work we need to do to hijack the dialogue. I don't want to work around the doubters and the wafflers, and have our voices muffled by those on our side speaking against us. Now's not the time.

Plan B: You can't get in trouble for saying nothing. If you have a beef with our President or our message or our agenda or our tactics, stay out of that particular kind of trouble. And no, I'm not infringing on anybody's First Amendment rights . . . duh. I'm not the feds and you have the right to say whatever you think . . . but know this. When you throw yourself into the marketplace of public opinion, and let your doubts become public, expect the liberal/progressives to take you to the woodshed. Let the teabaggers the Republicans sold their souls to muck about and split their party while we strengthen ours. We can quibble later about this policy or that policy. Now's not the time.

Plan B: Take a stand or take a walk. We can't afford to have our side's strength diluted, but there's something else -- I don't want to share credit with you when we prevail and boost the President, and our agenda, back to a position of strength.  If you don't have integrity now, I don't want you beside me then.  Integrity is "consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome." I don't see anything in that definition about integrity being fluid, or negotiable, or situational. Our President deserves our support, not our dissension. Now's not the time.

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.” So let's not.