"How pervasive is Democratic dissatisfaction?"

Read Glenn Greenwald's generally excellent post here.

Can there be any doubt that the Democratic Party's apologists think that Democrat power is a good thing in itself? That is, these hacks don't claim that Democrats in power means we get good consequences (progressive legislation, etc.). They just baldly suggest that there is some self-justifying sense in which Democrat majorities are good for their own sake.

Since Obama has taken office, the only thing he and his fellow Democrats have insisted on is lowering expectations, extinguishing demands from their supporters, and generally pushing for a conservative acceptance of the status quo. The results of the Democrat's conservatism are clear to everyone: continually rising unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, social misery, massive losses of wealth due to foreclosures, skyrocketing evictions, etc. The Republicans are irrelevant here: the Democrats, with massive majorities and control of all levels of government, failed to do anything that might actually address these problems. Would the Republicans have done better? Of course not. But that's irrelevant. The question is whether we should continue to accept such tepid, conservative policies from what we're continually told is the "only choice" for those of a Left persuasion.

Throughout the first two years, Obama has bowed before power, before Wall Street. He's kissed the asses of the elite, he's even done a fair amount of "reaching out" to the Republicans.

But for the masses of people who really wanted to see change, who voted enthusiastically for Obama and the Democrats in 2008, the man has nothing but disdain.

Although there are objective, concrete reasons why people are rightfully disaffected and frustrated that Democrat super-majorities have produced more of the same old garbage... the strategy from the White House seems to be: attack ordinary Americans who want real change. The message is clear: "buck up, fall into line, shut up, and just vote for us."

This is complete bullshit. You can't shit all over progressive and left-wing people, court the Right and big-business with smiles, and then expect that a bit of rhetoric months before election day should be enough to "mobilize" the so-called "lethargic base".

The sad truth, which Democrat officials are never likely to grasp, is that the last two years of Democratic hegemony have made crystal clear that the American people don't have a real choice in our electoral system. They are made to choose between two factions of one pro-business party every two years. And no amount of sugar-coating, sophistry, or patronizing rebuke from Democrat apologists can obscure that fact.