The left in America wants to claim the presidency, but Obama (and Hillary to a lesser extent) have a sales problem.

They make a compelling negative case (i.e. Republicans= Teh Suck) but their affirmative pitch (Democrats = Teh Awesome) is struggling.

Like it or not, the left is having problems selling the current flavor of Socialism to the working-class proles bourgeoisie Regan Democrats mouth-breathing iceberg-eating mongoloids people who don't post in The Fray.

Folks posting on this matter usually suggest one of four possible explanations for the problem, listed here in descending order of how often I hear them:

1) The customer is stupid

2) The competition is evil and fights dirty

3) The sales force is crap

4) The product is crap

If all you can focus on are 1 and 2, well... even if you are right, enjoy wandering that wilderness of non-presidency and calling me names

My particular opinion:

1) Your customer is not stupid and is no more easily manipulated than a humanities grad student.

2) Your competition fights dirty, but so do you. Evil? It's funny how Evil is an epithet both relative and cringe-worthy until you run up against an opponent that whips your butt.

3) Hello! Have you been to Berkeley or Burning Man?

4) Your product is (partly) crap. It's not a binary thing of course, but it seems to me that Socialism is unsustainable because a) it's economically weaker than its competition and will eventually be overwhelmed by a less fettered economy and b) It ends up ossifying the very class structure it seeks to overthrow which obviates the moral currency that it has.

On the other hand the Environmental pitch has serious legs... but... problem 3! Want to win on environment? Call the NRA. Call B.A.S.S. for that matter. You will be surprised at the support you may get.

Then there's that whole patriotism/Iraq/GWOT thing... what you need to do to win here is... is.. did I mention that the Environment can be a big winner?

I stand ready for ritual evisceration by the true guardians of the faith.

While I may be of the "other faith," you make a strikingly good case. I've lately been reading an author named Joe Bageant who is one of those rust-and-tobacco belt born white trash autodidact socialists, adn he makes many of the same points that endure from Orwell. He is equally critical of the jet-set left--for looking down their gilded noses at the very people they ostensibly claim to defend--as he is of the right, who simply clearly have other interests in mind while serving up a buffet of splinter issues.

While Socialism can't compete with capitalism on the home court, it is undoubtedly more sustainable and humane in teh long run. Caqpitalism may be winning now, just as any organism built on the premise of unlimted and exponential growth--otherwise known as a cancer--often wins in teh short run. You seem intelligent and i neededn't spell out my point here.

As for the war, the problem the Dems have with that one is that they get their geet from the same trough as the GOP and can't risk offending their corporate sponsors by spelling out the true casus belli in opposition any more than the GOP can in support. Therefore we have to dance with the manikin of false rationales from both sides of the aisle. To use your wonderfully extended metaphor, the way I see it is:

1. The "proles" if you will are not stupid. As Obama tried to point out to dismaying effect, the problem here lies in the fact that the working man knows that both parties are screwing him (or her). This is why splinter issues work to the GOP's favor. If the left could find an inkling of its true populist roots and address issues in a meaningful (meaning unobfuscated) way, they might gain some traction. The fact is that, although most american's live under the delusion that they are "middle class"--whatever that might mean--nothing really in this context--the truth is that the disparity in weath has widened like that lake down in New Orleans. Bu the Dem leaders can't really address this, because they have no real intention of changing the status quo.

2. The competition is pretty evil and does fight dirty. Probably the Dem's problem (I hesitate to say "left," when to any European, either candidate's platform would be considered moderate right at best) is that they don't fight dirty enough. The reason, again, is becasue to actually throw the real dirt regarding the corrporatocracy that projects the hologram of an American dream, they would have to dig it from their own backyards. Besides, why would Nancy Pelosi want to get her nice pants suits all muddy?

3. The sales force is crap because it is hamstrung by the inability to tell the truth, again. To raise populist issues would require them to make a sacrifice or even hold an opinion that wasn't prepackaged by their executive monied handlers--at all boils down to this, really. The Dems play act at being a party of the people when they haven't done anything for the people since the times of that bastard LBJ, or better yet, Roosevelt, a rich boy who was at least born with an actual heart rather than a tin-man's time piece.

4. The product is crap because it is watered down gin, Who could actually make a buck off the undiluted stuff?

Moodyguppy- I will stand by and protect you, if for no other than your awesome analysis and prose!

Douwe