David Coates, political economist and Worrell Chair in Anglo-American Studies at Wake Forest University, answers questions from PBS newscaster, Judy Woodruff, about his progressive blog, Answering Back.
"Answering Back" was written, and is now maintained, to give sustenance to ordinary party members campaigning for progressive candidates and causes. It is less focused on the leadership of the party than on the movement, because it is at that lower level that so much work needs still to be done, to strengthen the progressive voice in American politics. Good ideas will not win elections unaided, but without good ideas any election won will be valueless.
David also concisely summarizes what I think are the left and right forces that are most likely to torpedo passage of a health reform bill.
The reform the president is fighting for is far from perfect, but it is worth fighting for. If we get it, it will change the architecture of health care provision in the United States, and act as the launching pad for further health care reform down the line. Conservatives know that. They know concessions made now will be hard to pull back later. They know we are in trench warfare and need to fight one trench at a time.
My main worry is that many liberals seem to think that the fight we are in is a tank battle, and that we should go for fast moving total victory and risk total defeat. Center-left forces in democratic politics are often brilliant at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and letting the perfect drive out the good.
Read the entire interview here.
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