When the Varsity is playing on LRC, I usually line up with Bob since our politics as similarly Progressive for the most part.  However, I’ve become conflicted about the far left position for the last 4 months;  I believe that, like Pres. Obama, we must be pragmatic if we are to get anything done.  Change will be incremental.  Quixotic tilts with the unattainable will not advance our cause, and will only serve to polarize us further, in Washington and across our Country.

This is well illustrated with respect to health care reform.  It’s clear to me that a line-in-the-sand showdown over an exclusively single-payer plan would come to naught, even if the majority of Americans say they want one.  I think we’ll be doing very well if we can pass a public-private mix.  Let’s see how that works for a while.  Will it bring down the outrageous overhead of the private health care insurance companies?  Will their lobbies and political contributions even allow the public option?  This is going to be a tremendous battle, and we must win it first, before we can think about winning the war.

We’ve finally got a Uniter in the White House.  I want him to succeed.  I got absolutely nothing except pain, sorrow, aggravation and disappointment for the last 8 years, so I’m willing to settle for any positive steps, however short they fall from perfection.  Call me the Neville Chamberlain of the Progressive Movement, but I think we should keep everything on the table.

In the meantime, we need uncompromising, articulate, passionate spokespeople like Bob Scheer to remind us of the Progressive goal, even though it may not be achievable in the foreseeable future, or even desirable after we get more experience with incremental changes.