Can a leopard change his spots?

There’s been a lot of talk bandied about in this period preceding the Colorado Senate Democratic primary.  There are folks that use the term “progressive” when they refer to Sen. Michael Bennet, and I want to make sure that we really understand what this means.

Now, in all fairness, I am very psyched about the fact that Sen. Bennet signed on as a co-sponsor of the Dream Act, and I even shook his hand publicly at a Democratic Party picnic and thanked him for his courage.  Also, he did sign on the the Lily Leadbetter Act, which guarantees equal pay for equal work.  I am glad that he decided to act as your garden-variety Democrat would act.

However, I just have to remind everyone of one of Sen. Bennet’s first actions when he arrived at the Senate, which was to join the “ConservaDem” faction led by Sen. Evan Bayh.  Right out of the gate, the ConservaDems trumpeted that they wanted a slowdown to spending and even threatened to slow down the President’s agenda.  Remember Rachel Maddow’s report back in March 2009:

Here’s the thing.  We need Democrats to act like Democrats.  We need them to be strong on labor, on consumer protections, on re-regulation of the finance and insurance industries.  When they can get those no-brainers down, then we will have a strong coalition to wage the war for comprehensive immigration reform, for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.  These social issues are going to take a whole lot of testicular fortitude to win,  and they will only be won when we Democrats win the confidence of the American people again.  They will be on the side of social change when they no longer live lives that are fraught with economic despair.  Let’s not forget that the first thing that many middle-class people say about undocumented residents is that “they take our jobs.”

Aren’t we listening to Middle America?