Apr 05, 2006 5:43 PM

Feingold Goes for Broke

After calling for the legalization of gay marriage, Russ Feingold is the either the bravest, or the most naive, Democrat among the party's 2008 hopeful.

In either case, he's certainly giving the theories of party guru George Lakoff a valuable test run. Lakoff, author of a deeply influential book on "framing" political debates, exhorts candidates to never moderate their agenda to the poll-tested tastes of Middle America. Rather, they're to stand unapologetically for their liberal beliefs and trust that independents and moderates will be drawn in by their mettle and their principles, even if they disagree with their policy positions.

Feingold's tack really isn't that radical. By calling for a quick end to the Iraq war, a censure of the president over his illicit spying, and embracing the government sanction of homosexual marriages, he's merely articulating the wants of a majority of the Democratic base. But for a generation of left-fearing Democratic leaders, who cut their teeth on DLC centrism and Clintonian triangulation, that's revolutionary stuff.

Feingold knows his path to the White House runs through the Internet -- through MoveOn (which eagerly endorsed his censure resolution), through DailyKos (Kossaks rate Russ #1), through Atrios, Aravosis and the rest. And he's giving them all the red meat (or in Kos' personal case, braised tofu) that they can handle.

By throwing down the gauntlet -- and essentially saying to his 2008 opponents, you're either with me or you're with the Republicans -- Feingold is going to give other Democrats fits in the primaries. Whether that works to his advantage, or Karl Rove's, only history will be the judge.

Email Print