Which approach do you think is better?

[Onlooker]

(1) Unfettered loyalty. This is the one that Republicans used with Bush II. They backed him 100% of the time for almost 7 years giving him a free hand to do whatever he wanted. The idea here is that if we stand with Obama no matter what, he will have the political capital to accomplish whatever he wants.

(2) Organizing and activism. This is the approach Martin Luther King, the gay rights movement, the labor movement, the women's rights movement, and the Anti-Vietnam War demonstrators used to achieve their aims. By organizing and protesting, they brought enormous pressure on both Democratic and Republican Presidents and Congress to bring about change. The idea here is that if we insist that Obama remain true to civil rights, his anti-war message, and his promise of a more egalitarian economy, he is more likely to find the courage to stand up to the mighty forces of the status quo.

[polichick]

1. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Thomas Jefferson

[Vincardog]

2. PE Obama will only be able to do the right thing if we MAKE HIM

[yardwork]

3. It's going to get very tedious around here if people have hysterics every time Obama is criticized.

I voted for the man. I sent his campaign money. I'm glad that he was elected instead of McCain. That doesn't mean that I signed some kind of loyalty oath never to criticize him.

What kind of democracy is that?

[MADem]

6. There's going to be a shitload of cognitive dissonance in any event, too.

There are people here who actually think that Obama is going to be like Rainbow Bright and make everything wonderful.

He's not. He's going to move crisply to the CENTER (slightly) RIGHT, and sit there. He will make forays into "leftish" policy and push a few pet issues, but there's not gonna be a Great Socialist Revival where everyone joins hands, sings Kumbayah, and The World Will Be As One.

It's just not going to be OFFENSIVE, like it has been for the last eight years, any more. People will hate us less, hopefully.

He's going to be like Clinton, basically, only with more of a tan and hopefully a bit less horny. Take a look at his cabinet--Clinton could have picked that bunch. Hell, most of them worked for Clinton at one point in time!

Think Clinton, only younger and with a better zipper. That's what we're in for.

[yardwork]

9. That's what I thought from the very beginning of Obama's candidacy, so I won't be surprised.

[MADem]

7. Pesky doubleclick, pardon me! nt

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. Obama said it himself during the campaign.

Change doesn't come from politicians, but from the people. We have to let him know that "business as usual" - especially the way it's been done for the last 28 years - is NOT acceptable.

Fuck the occupations, fuck the corporations. Power to the PEOPLE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wos-dDxpJlQ

[MADem]

5. Look at what Unfettered Loyalty has done to the GOP. They're CRUSHED.

Unless they totally change their tune, and start becoming, oh, say The Party of Women and Hispanics, the Party of the Working Stiff, and drop the hard line on Jesus and Abortion, they're careening towards irrelevance.

Of course, they just might do that....stranger things have happened. Colin Powell gave them a little lecture about being asshole-ish to minorities, we'll see how or if that sticks.

The Democratic Party used to be the party of vicious southern racists, segregation now and forever, and the Certain Quashers of Civil Rights for Blacks. It's why MLK was a REPUBLICAN...because Republicans used to be "The Party of Lincoln" who believed in abolition and civil rights. LBJ flipped that paradigm on its head and gave the "change" mantle, if you will, to the Democrats. Nixon, sensing a vacuum, decided that the Southern Strategy was the way to go, and he scooped up all those pissed off racist Dems and brought them into the GOP fold.

Where you have disaffected people, you have challenge...and opportunity. The ones with the best message will win.

[gravity]

8. Neither

Both approaches have major flaws in it.

[baldguy]

10. #1 is a fascist model, #2 is a democratic model.