Buy, Borrow, Loan or Steal this book!

There's a lot of progressive disbelief and apathy following the first year of the Obama Administration.  (The November 2008 version of me is jumping up and down saying 'I told you so!  That's why I didn't vote for him!')  Despite Obama's centrist embrace of Cheney Administration policies and appointees there still is a lot of angry yelling from the right that Obama is a socialist and a far left activist. 

I started thinking about a book I read a few years back called Blood of the Liberals by George Packer.  Mr. Packer gives a detailed history of American liberalism through his personal life and family history, and reminds the reader that despite the brand names, the parties aren't homogeneous and evolve (or in the Democrat's case, devolve.)

I was reading this book one fall afternoon at Coffee Kingdom, and had a college age woman look at the title of the book and her look told me that she thought I was some Rush Limbaugh zombie.  I had to explain that the title referred to his family pedigree as liberals, and didn't advocate spilling the blood of liberals.  I don't think she believed me, which says volumes about how poisonous our country's political sphere has become.