The left's identity is built on uprooting tradition

Running against Bush, Running from Themselves

By Daniel Greenfield
Tuesday, March 2, 2010

With his ratings plummeting and his administration coming undone, the Great Savior of the Democrats in the White House is more focused on finding ways to blame Bush and congressional Republicans for the current mess, than anything else. And that is predictable enough because the progressive left has built its identity around opposition more than anything else.

Even when in power, the left draws a picture of itself as perpetually embattled. That is the case in a democracy and even in a tyranny, such as the USSR or Cuba, which remained focused on fighting increasingly imaginary enemies. It is no surprise then that Obama can’t put down the left’s well-worn security blanket, because it is too much a part of his movement’s ideological identity.

The left’s identity is built on uprooting tradition, in the same way that the identity of the right is built on preserving it. The left’s love for “reformâ€