PROGRESSIVES ARE NOT THE BASE!

I see myself as on the left side of being a progressive, but I still get thoroughly annoyed when progressives refer to themselves as "the base" of the Democratic Party or of the Obama campaign. Here's a typical item from The Progressive:

When is Obama going to appoint someone who reflects the progressive base that brought him to the White House?

The Democratic coalition has several (overlapping) "base" elements, including the largely white constituencies that identify themselves as liberals, African-Americans, Hispanics, gay people, unions, and young people.

My impression (I haven't seen any data on this) is that progressives are largely white. Certainly, one rarely sees African-American or Hispanic issues on general progressive blogs like Talking Points Media or Huffington Post. When progressives characterize themselves as the base, they miss out on the multi-racial "rainbow" character of the Democratic Party. They are also fundamentally myopic in failing to view themselves as in alliance with other groups.

When progressives view themselves as "the base," they are deceiving themselves. I just hope that it doesn't come back to bite us in the butt.