Progressive Caucus Recertified
by David Atkins
There was a significant hubbub caused when the California Democratic Party delayed recertifying its Progressive Caucus (of which I am a member, though I wasn’t present to vote on the resolution in question) after it passed a resolution encouraging a primary challenge to Barack Obama.
Much of the progressive blogosphere freaked out about this, claiming that the Party was attempting to quell dissent and expel anyone who stepped out of line. In truth, the delay in recertification at the last CDP executive board meeting in Anaheim took place in order to avoid an ugly and bruising floor fight that might have resulted in the decertification of the aucus, particularly at the hands of angry minority groups (whose constituents still strongly support the President) including the African-American Caucus.
The delay in recertification was the right move at the time, as I have said in the past. It allowed cooler heads to prevail and for rifts to be at least partially mended. And today at the CDP Executive Board meeting in Burlingame, I was proud to be among the board members to vote to recertify the Progressive Caucus in the California Democratic Party.
In any organization particularly on the Left, you’ll mostly find good people usually trying through fits and starts to do the right thing. Processes often get corrupted and bad leaders can do extraordinary damage sometimes, but by and large these are real people in these organizations, giving hundreds of hours of their time for free for a cause. The CDP has been doing a fantastic job of late as one of most progressive and effective Democratic organizations in the country, and the handling of the Progressive Caucus business has been no exception.
.