Today President Obama announced a "compromise" that is actually an intelligent aggressively progressive real time rapid rebuttal to the Republican attempt to demagogue the issues of birth control and religious freedom.
No doubt the Republicans will find some kind of fault with President Obama's action...or they will declare "victory" and walk away with their tails between their legs; either way they've lost!
Frankly, I hope they dig in their heels and double down on dumb demagoguery by continuing to try to frame this as some kind of assault on religious freedom in general and on the Catholic church in particular. If they go that route they'll continue to bleed what's left of their credibility.
This issue exemplifies the advantage that we progressives have...when we press that advantage...and that is that our arguments for our positions are more rational, more sane and are backed up by the existential realities that exist in the realm of concrete facts.
So long as the lights are turned on and we can get the people to pay real attention (and that also means forcing the media to cover the whole story by framing it in a compelling and dramatic manner) our side prevails!
The recent Koman debacle is a case in point! The fact that JC Penny is choosing to stand tall on their choice of Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson is another example. And let's not forget the way that Karl Rove's attempt to demagogue the Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad has beautifully backfired into the faces of the Republican propaganda machine!
We truly do have the demagogic dimwits on the run...and now is no time to let up.
President Obama's campaign must shoot for much more than just winning the presidency. That (as we've seen) is not nearly enough to make the kinds of transformational changes that are needed. The aim, the imperative, of this years election must be a Democratic/progressive sweep of every winnable congressional and every state and every local race throughout the nation! And then we need to focus sharply on expanding those gains in 2014!!!
