Why the Left will Glorify Bush Sr.
George H.W. Bush died. People on the mainstream left, like politicians, are glorifying his major accomplishments, such as signing the Americans with Disabilities Act, but whitewashing his failures, like pretending the AIDS crisis didn’t exist. A lot of people on the far-left are reaming the mainstream for this. But there’s a reason for this. It’s a reason nobody likes but it’s the same reason the House will work with the GOP in 2019.
Independents hold left to a different standard
It was not the far-left that propelled Democrats to their largest margin of victory since Watergate. It was suburban independent voters dissatisfied with the GOP’s handling of healthcare. However, the thing is that suburban independents are fickle. They don’t hold the right to the same standards as they do the left. Case in point, independents tolerated the previous Congress under Obama doing almost nothing but trying to repeal the ACA hundreds of times and derail other law on the basis of conspiracy theory nonsense (a law to restrict deadly restraint and seclusions of special needs kids in public schools was torpedoed by conspiracy nuts) but were mad that President Obama didn’t solve the nation’s problems instantly from 2008–2010.
The left is also held to a different standard behavior-wise. Independents are tolerating the recent wave of right-wing violence and the Feds under Trump resting on their laurels, refusing to admit we have a right-wing terror problem. Meanwhile, if a window is so much as smudged in a left-wing protest, the independents will scream that we’re being as hateful as the people waving swastika flags.
This is also why Bush Senior is being glorified. We know all the bad stuff he did, like how he ignored the AIDS crisis. However, if we call these wrongdoings out, independents will start screaming that we must “stop the hate” or that we’re pushing division. Meanwhile, we know that the minute Nancy Pelosi (or any major left-wing personality) dies, there will be open celebration by the right. Independents concerned about division will say nothing.
Democrats can’t be the Party of No
Many on the far-left want us to return the favor. They want us to be as bad as the right. However much the far-left wants, the mainstream left can’t be the Party of No. We can’t be as cruel to the other side as they have been to us. We can’t pull a Tea Party and do absolutely nothing for an entire congressional term while threatening to shut down the government for petty reasons. Independents hold us to a higher standard.
And yes, it sucks.