null
It has been a week since America and the rest of the world found out Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Questions have arisen from bloggers, readers, journalists, media figures, regarding what the progressive/liberal community should do now that they have a Democrat is power.

First, Obama is not as progressive as many of us would all like him to be. We all knew this going in and it’s no different today. Just look at his chief of staff pick, DLC centrist Rahm Emanuel. Look at me! I’m Rahm, and I want to reach across the aisle. Just like McCain and Lieberman! During the campaign, Obama made sure not to blame Republican policy for the current economic crisis. He blamed George W. Bush. It would have been nicer if he took the entire Republican Party to task, not just an extremely unpopular lame duck president. As Minnesota Senate hopeful, Al Franken said on Air America’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on October 31, Republican policies are to blame for the terrible situations we’re in, not just Bush’s.

Many believe that our job in the progressive community will be to protect Obama when he is attacked by right-wing pundits, talk show hosts, etc. I don’t agree with this at all. Our job as a progressive community is to call out our leaders (whatever party they belong to) when they have done something we totally disagree with. True progressives don’t settle for a leader by giving him/her a get out of jail free card just because they aren’t the other guy. True progressives will continue to push for better leadership

We won’t have to worry about attacks from the right-wing against Obama. They are in too much disarray. Obama won this election by a landside, the conservative moment is confused and right-wing media organizations are not quite sure what to do. For example, Fox Network has not only continued to attack liberal organizations but has now decided to attack and blame Republican Party members for Obama’s win. Sarah Palin has been taking the brunt of these attacks, even though during the election she was praised by them.

A progressive movement is building in this country. Right-wingers are in chaos. Fox is even trying to jump on the liberal bandwagon to maintain relevance. As Air America’s editor-in-chief, Beau Friedlander said, “Rupert Murdoch is a business man.

Our first job in the progressive community is to stop right-wing media organizations from switching their political agenda to fit the country’s political agenda. So, I have a suggestion: Stop watching, paying attention, reporting on, and-or referencing media organizations like the Fox News Network.

I know this will be difficult to do because they provide us with such juicy propaganda to report on but if we continue to help spread their propaganda by reporting on it, we’ll continue to make them significant. By reporting on them and their ridiculousness, we’re giving people a reason to watch them. Who doesn’t like to watch a train wreck? If we close our eyes and ignore them, they’ll disappear. We should by no means give them credit when they begin to report accurately on liberals, progressives, Obama, Democrats, etc.

As a new era in America begins, it is time for us to make these right-wing media organizations go away for good. They’ve had many years to change their tune. Sorry Fox, too late!
Cross posted: Airamerica.com