Why Bother?

Apparently Ron isn't the only one ready to give up on the Democratic leadership these days. You may recall that, last fall, we had a discussion about an essay written by Peter Daou. It was on the topic of how liberal and progressive blogs were relatively ineffective in shaping "conventional wisdom" and having a positive impact on the political process, as well as how the Republicans seem to keep weathering scandal after scandal and the Democrats always seem to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when their opponents present them with so many opportunities. Well, now he has written a sequel to that essay. (The original is linked from that article, by the way, in case you missed it.) First, he's a quick look back at his original premise.

"Looking at the political landscape, one proposition seems unambiguous: blog power on both the right and left is a function of the relationship of the netroots to the media and the political establishment. Forming a triangle of blogs, media, and the political establishment is an essential step ... Simply put, without the participation of the media and the political establishment, the netroots alone cannot generate the critical mass necessary to alter or create conventional wisdom."

Daou describes a "triangle" composed of the bloggers (i.e. the "netroots", which is the new version of the "grassroots") and the media and the Democratic leadership. Without the functional assistance of all three legs of this triangle, nothing is accomplished. Daou seems to be of the opinion that the bloggers are certainly doing their part, laboring mightily for the cause, but the other two legs of this triangle are completely broken.

The NSA scandal and the Alito confirmation hearings are just two more examples of the leftÂ’s broken triangle and of the isolation of the progressive netroots. A flurry of activity among bloggers, online activists, and advocacy groups is met with ponderously inept strategizing by the Democratic leadership and relentless -- and insidious -- repetition by the media of pro-GOP narratives and soundbites. It's slow-motion-car-wreck painful, and most certainly NOT where the left's triangle should be a half decade into the new millennium, as the Bush-propping machine hums and whirrs, poll numbers rise and fall, Iraq bleeds, scandal dissolves into scandal, terror speech blends into terror speech. The landscape is there for everyone to see, to analyze. Enough time has elapsed to make the system transparent. It is dismaying for netroots activists to see the same mistakes repeated despite the benefit of hindsight.

Why is the right wing more successful in influencing the political process from their seats in Blogistan? Because they have the other two legs of the triangle humming along like a well oiled machine. The supposedly "liberal media" is not just complacent - they have consistently taken whatever sound bites the administration chooses to hand out and replayed them ad nauseum to a barely attentive public who then take it as gospel. And the Republican leadership is more than happy to listen to their base with rapt attention and bring up talking points that support the cause du' jour. In short, right wing bloggers are far better equipped to "steer the ship" since they have a functional ship to start with.

Progressive bloggers have consistently seen a media that is too cowed and complacent to do much more than touch on stories of importance. Even when something huge like the NSA spying scandal breaks, the administration is able to steer the media into spinning it down until it simply fades away. Back to Daou's comments on this - specifically predictions he made about the spin of the NSA snooping scandal as soon as it came out.

"Polls will emerge with 'proof' that half the public agrees that Bush should have the right to "protect Americans against terrorists." Again, the issue will be framed to mask the true nature of the malfeasance. The media will use these polls to create a self-fulfilling loop and convince the public that it isn't that bad after all. The president breaks the law. Life goes on."

And isn't that exactly what we're seeing happen today? The story has already slipped to page 3 or beyond, and the Alito nomination hearings are the only thing on the radar.

Even if the media does manage to stumble upon a useful bit of work, the left wing blogosphere is then still stymied by watching the DNC leadership go back to the drawing board and return with the same inept, toothless strategies which failed for them in the past. Please do read all of Daou'sanalysiss. It's somewhat depressing, but certainly spot on accurate.