Centrist Weenie of the Day ~ OK's Dan Boren

There's Merle over to the left with his Okie from Muskogee cover. I used the lyrics when teaching modern U.S. History as I think they work for demonstrating "backlash" as solid as anything I've stumbled across. As to stumbling across ... here's a good one as to when country went right. We have this Okie theme due to the recent half-baked support with qualifications yet no endorsement of Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Boren given to Barack Obama's candidacy. Centrist Weenie! He's a Blue Dog of course.

"Faith in Oklahoma" on his barely functioning campaign site means we'll have faith in exactly what Dan? That folks like you playing into the right's framing will save our collective hides? Dan has at least shown his wisdom to the AJC's right wing tool Jim Wooten. While Dashing Dan is certainly free to do his own thing, I was disappointed with his acceptance of the foolishness that Senator Obama is the most liberal of his colleagues.

The son of a Senator who is now over the University of Oklahoma plus the grandson of a Congressman, Representative Boren certainly has a solid background. Born on at least first base, I hope he doesn't think he's hit a double. Daddy David, plus Georgia's own Sam Nunn, endorsed Senator Obama way back in April. I'll not address the various ways that Daddy seemingly managed to avoid Vietnam yet he's considered a heavyweight in at least some circles.

I'll close with what Hunter at Daily Kos offered on Dan Boren:

So here's my gentle question for Rep. Boren. Let's just suppose that he was right, and Obama really was "the most liberal senator" in the entire Democratic contingent -- a term magically conferred by conservatives on whatever figure wins the nomination, election after election, while hyper-mega-death-penalty-mocking-war-humping-salmon-punching-archconservative Republicans magically turn into "moderates", using those same conservatives' exact same terribly objective calculations for such things.

So let's just stipulate that someone might be "the most liberal" senator. My question for Rep. Boren, and for his Oklahoma constituents, is this: so what? So what if someone is a "liberal"?

What exactly are you afraid of?

What, will he start some wars? Will the economy go to hell? Will gasoline suddenly cost four bucks a gallon, so that getting from one end of town to the other starts to be something you have to plan for in your family budget? Oh, wait, no -- that's what conservatism has wrought. So what big, scary menace will "liberalism" rain down upon us all?

The horror of free public education? The apocalypse of affordable healthcare for families and the elderly? An energy policy that consists of something other than "hell, let's just sit on our asses and see what happens"? My God, maybe we'll have a foreign policy that doesn't revolve around sucking thousands of dollars out of your constituents' pockets, lighting all that money on fire, and using the pyre to make super-special Democracy Smores in the middle of the Iraqi desert?

What, are we afraid less American soldiers will die? That our trade deficit will be, if not reversed, at least addressed? Are Oklahomans all huddled in their closets, lest some of the now-legions of outsourced jobs start reappearing in their towns? What? What is it that is so absolutely alarming about the word "liberal" that you'd rather stomach having everything that's happened to America for the past decade continue, rather than being seen as someone who might secretly have tolerance for, shudder, that word?

Well put Sir! And Amen! John Gunn