the knee-jerk defense of him by some of his supporters, which prevents the "continue to fight" part of Kennedy's doctrine, particularly when the criticism is not against him, but against part of bills he may not have wanted in the first place. I hope they will accept there is something wrong in the NDAA now that the president has said so in his statement. I find it just as destructive. They behave as if they were worshiping a god, not as if they cared about ideas.
It is no surprise that the right wing ideas are the ones that are seen as mainstream. For the last 30 years, Democrats have stopped promoting progressive ideas, saying they cannot pass. We do not see the far right stop promoting stupid ideas like the flat tax. A large part of those who form the ranks of the Democratic staffers come from the Nixon people (and some were still Republicans under Reagan). They have not changed their view of the world. They have been pushed out of their party and continue promoting these ideas under a Democratic label.
Kennedy was one of the last few who fought for progressive ideas. We only have a few left in office. I wonder what it will take to promote a progressive America again, but we have to stop thinking it is the GOP fault. They did their job: promote the ideas they thought good (yes, they are wrong). We stopped doing our job, which is basically the same.
Now, it is true that election times are not the best moment to promote ideas, but you do not see Democrats trying to promote them at any time in the first place.