Wow! Is she wrong

Katerina Vanden Heuvel is a pompous and condescending member of the journalistic elite of Washington. She writes for both the Nation and the Washington Post. she is frequently off base with her views, but today she penned a column that can only be called extraordinary. Kate (if I may be so bold as to address Ms. Vanden Heuvel by her first name, something she usually reserves for the maids and butlers.) opines today that democrats need to set forth a clear progressive vision for the economy in order to win in November. She bases this view on a poll take for Moveon.org which, not surprisingly, got results that show that its own views are overwhelmingly supported by the public. Single payer healthcare -- the public is dying for it (literally). Confiscatory tax rates for the rich so as to support redistributionist plans -- again the public can hardly wait to see these enacted. The list goes on, but you get the picture. In Kate's perfect world, no one but she would be rich. Everyone would just do what she says.

The truth is that America does not want and will not accept the progressive vision put forth by Kate. Too many folks want to make it or fail on the basis of their own merit and their own work, not the decision made by some government bureaucrat who is supposedly fair, but actually favors cousin lou and his friends. Americans want the chance to move way up the economic ladder, not the right to live just above the poverty line while knowing that everyone else is in the same boat.

In short, I hope the Democrats follow the advice of the Iconic Ms. VandenHeuvel. Not only will they lose, they will lose badly. the time for "progressive" solutions that bring socialism rather than progress has passed. The days when rhetoric will bamboozle the voters is also gone. We have all seen the promises of 2008 morph into the realities of 2010. We all know that nothing that comes from the Obamacrats can be taken at face value. remember obama the first post partisan president? Maybe it was just a hearing problem, but he is the most partisan president. Remember obama the first post racial president? here too, the Obamacrats have been race baiting (those bigoted tea partiers), and relying on race to push an agenda that cannot win on its inherent merit. Remember the promises regarding healthcare (it will save money, cut the deficit and you can all keep your plans at the current cost.) it was all a lie. How about the promise to close Gitmo? I did not see the need for it, but Obama made it a solemn promise. Now, like the old Emily Litella character of Gilda Radner, Obama can only say "nevermind!" How about stopping the Iranian nuclear program by open negotiations with no preconditions. Well, those went by the boards when the Iranians laughed at the idea. Obam, of course, did not change course, since he lives in a fantasy world where what he says defines reality. So we wait for the news of the Iranian A-bomb and the president goes on vacation. how about the promise of competence? The oil spill showed that to be a lie. How about the ethical, transparent administration. Ask Joe Sestak, Andrew Romanoff, the various secret czars and Rahm Emmanuel about that. How about the promise to go through the federal budget line by line to find things to cut? a year and a hlaf later, the budget is trillions of dollars higher, not lower and nothing has been cut. How about the promise that the stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8%. Now we look at 8% unemployment as the good old days.

I do not want to belabor this, but there is essentially nothing that Obama promised that he kept. Thereis nothing that he said that was true. There was no hope he offered that he has not dashed. And why? Because Obama has done just what kate wants now for all the Democrats, a progressive agenda.