The Difference Between Leading from the Left Rather That the Right
Tony Blair talked with Christiane Amanpour on Sunday on a variety of topics, but one that is germaine to some of the discussions (or really, lack thereof) going on here re: President Obama (the piece I’m talking about ends at about the 3 minute mark):
This obviously pertains to Labor politics, but this has lessons for our own. Especially in the difference in governing from the left vs from the right. Blair notes that the left isn’t especially good at helping their leadership — they just pile on. This is from TPM:
“I love my own politics and progressives and all the rest of it,” Blair told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour in an unaired portion of his This Week interview from Sunday. “But if we have a weakness as a class, when the right get after us and attack our progressive leaders, instead of defending them we tend to say, ‘Yeah, well, really we’ve got a lot of complaints about them, too.'”
Blair said that the tendency of the left to pile on rather than defend its own leaders can leave their politicians alone to face the right wing attack machine, which Blair says is merciless. “It doesn’t matter how well intentioned you think you are,” Blair said of the right. “They’re going to go for you completely.”
“And then the interesting thing is, the progressives say, ‘Hey you’re not being progressive enough! Why don’t you do more for us?'” Blair added. “And so you can end up in quite an isolated position if you’re not careful.”
You’d think that we’d get that piling on isn’t getting anyone anywhere. And, of course, it leaves our own leadership rather defenseless. Which is the usual Democratic behavior — there is nothing worth defending until it is too late to count for anything.
A special note to Jason who apparently needs this data spelled out specifically — this is not a post claiming that Obama is the greatest party leader ever. Or whatever it is you think I’ve been saying. But for all of the dissection of horserace and tactics and the like being done here, it is nothing short of remarkable to me that this bit of fundamentals isn’t even a factor being considered.
Tags: President Obama, The Left
Yes, I agree, the right seems to defend their leaders to a much greater degree than the right. It was only 2 months into Obama’s administration when people on the left started the pile-on.
The explanation is simple really: Right wing ideology is a religion, while the left is about policy rather than ideology. Policies can legitimately be debated, and can change based on conditions and changing world views. But religion cannot.
When Bush/Republicans passed the tax cuts with an expiration date, Republicans didn’t say not enough. They blamed Dems. Even now, with the tax cuts set to expire, they are still blaming Dems, saying Dems are going to raise your taxes. Whether they win or lose on extending these tax cuts they always knew they were moving this issue down the field. They took what they could get, and once they got that they try for more. Same with abortion. Chip, chip, chip away.
What astounds me is that the left and the right are saying the same thing – and have been saying it since “2 months in” – Obama sucks. And we wonder why there’s an enthusiasm gap?
What astounds me is that the left and the right are saying the same thing – and have been saying it since “2 months in” – Obama sucks.
You’d think Obama would have gotten the message by now.
So Tony Blair has now become Delaware Liberal’s expert on progressive politics. The poor man must be so sad that all those nasty mean progressives didn’t support him when he became Bush’s poodle and marched Britain off to war in Iraq.
Hardly, but, then again, I don’t have to agree with someone on everything.
Tony Blair is saying the same thing Bill Clinton has said. Basically he’s saying “we need your help and you abandon us.”
I agree that the left & right are different. The right is more authoritarian. That’s why the model on the right won’t work for the left.
Personally, I think the biggest thing that Democrats lack is their own news channel like the Republicans have Fox. The Republicans are able to spread pretty much anything they want to the MSM because of Fox. How many people know about “death panels” but know nothing about health care exchanges?
Democrats really, really suck at messaging. Yes, we need to develop policies and present them. But “the truth will win out” is not true at all and we need to stop pretending that it is, especially since the media does not see its job as educating people. Democrats desperately need people to help them make more emotion-based appeals. Obama found his with “hope.” Republicans have found theirs with fear.
Fear trumps hope every time.
More to the point, it’s hard to fake passion. You’re asking progressives to sell weak tea — “well, at least we got health care after a century of trying” — instead of stronger stuff, say, “a public option will keep private insurance companies honest.” IF you give people nothing to be enthusiastic about, don’t act surprised when they’re not enthusiastic.
On health care, for example, the bill that was passed clearly helps a minority, not a majority, of the population. And surprise! A majority is not in favor of it. I wonder why?
If you are fortunate to be in a position where you will be just fine no matter what Obama does, no matter how high the unemployment rate gets, or even if Republicans are back in charge, I can see how it is easy to think Obama critics on the left are being ridiculous. If you don’t expect to ever need public health care or a government-provided job, you probably think Obama is doing OK. But if you think you might need one or both of those things, even just as a security blanket you never use, you might think Obama isn’t doing enough.
What’s clear to me is that Obama needs to pick a fight and fight until the bitter end.
Tony Blair? Really? You know who else laments that Democrats don’t have each other’s back? Rod Blagojavich.
Tony Blair didn’t really govern/lead from the Left. He was one of the more conservative/from-the-right Labour leaders in recent history. The Clinton comparison upthread is better, since both tried to come from the right within and outside the party, with weird or not very good results. Blair explicitly modeled himself and New Labour on Clinton and the DLC crowd.