It's gotten to the point where Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish is of much more value for the dissents he publishes than for anything he says himself. (I finally figured out that he is, indeed, one of the Beltway insiders. I thought he was just a shallow poseur.) (This one encapsulates a lot of what I find lacking in Sullivan's approach: he just doesn't understand Democrats, he doesn't understand leadership, and he doesn't understand what is necessary in a president right now. I think he just doesn't really understand American politics at all -- at least, not the way it's done in the heartland.
The real key to understanding the difference between Republicans and Democrats is in their reactions to the previous two Presidents. In fact, Bill Clinton was the best damned Republican policy President of the past half century. Republicans hated his slippery personality, the way he played fast and loose with the truth, and his personal approach to life. Democrats hate what George Bush has done to the country. There's a real difference, and Republicans as well as so-called (conservative) independents, project their feelings about the Clintons on ours about George Bush. To analogize, Michael Moore is not Michelle Malkin, but people like you can't see the difference.
Like I keep sayin' -- Sullivan just doesn't get it.
I will probably support Edwards in the primary. As this writer notes, he's an old-style Democrat with a strong program who is not afraid to take a position -- even when it's one that many of his constituency don't agree with -- and is willing to learn. I have never favored Obama, for many of the reasons the writer notes: first and foremost, he's not a leader. He might be an effective facilitator, but that's not what we need. Clinton is too far to the right on most issues for my taste, but I will probably support her in the general election if she wins the nomination. The alternative is unthinkable.
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