Reverse Tribalism

The liberal side of the blogosphere has devolved almost entirely into an exercise in discussing the insanity and/or disgusting nature of the current crop of Republican candidates. There is little or no evaluation of Obama’s campaign or of his efforts at governance, to the rather pathetic degree to which such efforts exist. At several places I have commented on that point, saying that posters and commenters claim to be liberals and asking why they are discussing conservative issues and ignoring the Democratic campaign, and the responses have been interesting, to say the least.

Some have been personal, of course. One person said that “some education would help” me. I don’t doubt the validity of that, but I don’t see what it has to do with this subject. Many were of the “you’re an idiot” variety, which suggested to me that I struck some nerves.

One response was that “we’re vetting the Republican candidate at this point in time,” to which I would respond with, “Yes, that’s rather the point of my statement, but why?” The posters and commenters all profess to be liberals, so how many of them are going to be voting in Republican primary elections? I didn’t think so. Given that, for what purpose are you “vetting the Republican candidate” then?

Another said that “there is no Democratic campaign.” Oh really? I believe Mr. Obama is going to be really disappointed to hear you say that, since he has been spending a hell of a lot of money, time and energy to stand behind podiums all over the country and shout campaign slogans. Apparently you’ve been so busy “vetting the Republican candidate” that you didn’t notice your own candidate campaigning. It might upset him to know that his own base is not listening and doesn’t, in fact, even know that he’s doing it.

I suspect that liberals are actually very unexcited about their own candidate, who is decidedly not very liberal, and they don’t have a lot to crow about either with his accomplishments or his campaign promises. So they turn to making themselves feel good by trashing the other side. It may work for them, but it just makes them look pathetic to me. “We don’t have anything to say for ourselves, but boy those other guys are really stupid.” Color me unimpressed.