Happy to have that one pinned on my chest ;-)
It's interesting; I don't know that I agree with *any* of the assertions you make in this post. Isn't that fascinating? That intelligent people can disagree so completely?
To your claim that 'Republicans can't play defense, and Democrats can't play offense,' I have to invoke a dictionary (as I'm LOATHE to do...):
con·serv·a·tive: holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion.
Inasmuch as Republicans are Conservative (and I'll be the first to concede that they've been steadily moving away from that end of the pool for ~30 years) then by definition of their political philosophy, they are *always* on defense. It's what they do, more than anything: defend, protect, preserve and promulgate the Stuff That Got Us Here.
Democrats, on the other hand, for the last fifty years or so have been pushing boundaries and advancing the Progressive agenda, which is *usually* diametrically opposed to Conservativism.
So that one never has rung true for me.
You say, 'None of these people holds public office. None is currently active in party politics. All are just citizens.' To which I offer a few links in quiet rebuttal:
This first one is titled "How Obama will take on Trump."
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/donald-trump-barack-obama-234414
This second one is titled "Obama, Out of Office 10 Days, Speaks Out Against Immigration Ban."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/politics/obama-trump-immigration-ban.html
I'm not suggesting Obama is required to surrender his freedom of speech now that he's no longer POTUS; I'm saying that he's *clearly* still involved at the highest levels of Democrat Party politics.
Here's a couple on Hillary:
"Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Weigh In On Controversial Trump Administration Orders"
"She's back! Hillary attacks Trump with tweets criticizing his travel ban from Gold Star father Khizr Khan."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4177986/Hillary-links-Khizr-Khan-attack-Trump-again.html
And those are just from the last 24 hours. So if Hillary and Obama are 'not currently active in party politics,' I'm at a loss as to why they'd be standing in front of microphones in an unprecedented display toward an incoming President.
Again, I'm not arguing that they *shouldn't* do what they're doing (though it *is* unprecedented, as far as I'm aware). I'm saying they're *clearly* still heavily-involved in D-party politics.