Why did Bush use that word?
On Labor Day, President George W Bush claimed to be a “Progressive”:
And so, here on Labor Day, I say to the union members who are here, happy Labor Day, and thanks for supporting leadership that is progressive, smart, capable, and has your best interests at heart.
I’ve never been able to fully digest the meaning of the word “progressive”, but in modern American political parlance progressive really simply means “liberal” who is afraid to tag themself with that label due to years of both demonization and periods of liberal inertia. I have seen commentary bounced back and forth by blog-denziens parcing out the meaning, and coming full forth on the side of “Progressivism” before “Liberalism”, but I’ve pushed it aside and largely skipped over it and ignored it.
So, I’ve generally thought the use of the word “Progressive” managed to reinforce a bad image of Liberalism as — weak-kneed… not gumptious to the fight… spineless. And over the past few election cycles, I’ve cringed as various Centrist Democrats tapped into the word to define themselves for a difficult election cycle with their skeptical partisan crowd — Gray Davis initially tagged himself as “Progressive” when trying to feel himself for a way to win his Recall Election, and it came across like a slimy mole. The effect and botton line is the term is meaningless in the hands of political hacks.
After hearing Bush use the term, I have to reconsider the political muscle of the word. I don’t know if I’d end up changing my considerations of what the word means circa this moment in history, but it’s worth thinking about. Bush thought it was worth co-opting, and thus I pause.