An analagy occurred to me today: Democrats are to the Republican party as Israel is to the Palestinians.
You probably want an explanation for that.
Here goes: The Palestinians (particularly Hamas) are completely intransigent when it comes to peace with Israel. When Israel has offered land for peace swaps, they have uniformly rejected the deals. When Ehud Olmert offered them practically everything they could expect (West Bank and Gaza sovereignty, sharing of Jerusalem in return for end to hostilities) they responded with refusal and a renewal of terrorism. The Israeli peace movement, quite strong in the 1980s and 1990s, is a pale shell of its former self, as Israelis have decided that they have "no partner for peace", will just have to hunker down and wait for Palestinians to change.
Analgously, the Republican party has been completely intransigent since the 2008 elections. Any overture made by Democrats to join them in the Center and compromise has been met by implacable opposition. President Obama has naively offered very reasonable policies once favored by the Right (health care with an individual mandate, cap and trade environmental laws, deficit reduction based mostly on spending cuts) and has been met with refusal and an escalation of tactics designed to grind all of Washington to a halt. Hopefully, at long last, Obama and other Democrats have finally seen that they have "no partner for governing". They have to hunker down, fight to win elections, and wait for the GOP to return to planet Earth.
We just have to convince the David Brookses and Ben Nelsons and Joe Liebermans of the world that this is the case. We're not there yet, and I despair of ever getting there.
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