It seems that we liberals have trouble finding charisma in our candidates. You might be saying "What?? What about FDR, JFK, or Clinton?" Well, that's precisely my point. If you go back 70, 40, and 15 years, respectively, yeah, we did find it at those places in time, at least on a presidential level. But you're not remembering the debacles of Dukakis, Mondale, and Kerry either. And narrowing the focus to statewide races, the ultimate bellweather state -- Ohio -- has nothing to boast of in terms of the recruitment of candidates. Tim Hagan for Governor? Eric Fingerhut for Senate? Yeah right. It's no wonder both got trounced.
More on the flip...
But I think we're starting to see this dumb politics change. Democrats are realizing how much Ohio means to them politically and electorally, and more importantly, they're starting to see how they've been screwing up. We have two solid Democratic candidates for Governor to start with (
Ted Strickland and
Michael Coleman), and we're now
hearing rumors of national Democrats pressuring
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-OH, 17th District, to run for the Senate seat currently held by Mike DeWine. I believe this last race is key, and in order for Democrats to build the kind of majority that Republicans enjoy today, we need Ryan to run.
Why? Refer to the title of this entry. I think most of us know that, when taken in their most basic forms, liberalism beats conservatism ten times out of ten. But like it has been discussed many, many times, we're not selling it. Bill Clinton once said, "Democrats win when people think," but our problem is, we're not making them think. We're not enticing them to think. Republicans have the advantage because their philosophy, this new "values"-based conservatism, thrives on people NOT being able to think for themselves. It shoves charismatic candidates in front of voters in the midst of a media machine that lets people off the hook. In many ways, this media system that we have today, with all of its "yellow journalism," wants to do the thinking for people. Liberalism is the smart way to go, but conservativism is the easier way to go. So what do Democrats need? Well, in one word, charisma.
We have the policies, ideas, and proposals needed to turn things around, but until voters realize we do, until, like Thomas Frank explains in "What's the Matter with Kansas," voters realize that cultural well-being is the extension of a healthy economy (yes, a bit of a Marxist base-superstructure theme), we're not going anywhere. I don't care how many Reform Ohio Nows or Blue 88s or MoveOn.orgs we have, there will always be an obstacle between our party and those Reagan Democrats (that are basically prisoners of war stuck in the Republican camp), unless we can connect with them like Republicans do. Like Stan Greenberg explains in Two Americas, while the Republicans are seeking electoral success by dividing the nation and getting their 51% of the vote, we need to make sure we're targeting 100%. An example is Barack Obama at last year's Democratic Convention. Almost a year ago today, he gave that great speech that discussed the role of hope and unity in this great democratic experiment that we've all been a part of (well, most of us at different times) for the past 229 years. He offered the rhetoric and the ideas, but he was charismatic. Everyone liked him, not just liberal Democrats.
So what does this all mean? We need Tim Ryan to run for the U.S. Senate. It's Ohio; Mike DeWine's approval ratings are dropping; he's a Republican in a state where being a Republican might just not be an advantage anymore; Ryan plays the role of the underdog great as seen in his upset election victories in 2000 and 2002; lastly, Ryan has the charisma, dedication, and passion that those Ohio Reagan Democrats need to see from the Democratic Party again. If we're going to build this Democratic machine, an essential piece of the puzzle is charisma, so that, when added to our logic (which we know wins out in the end), we come much closer to solving the puzzle than the Republicans do. We need to stop picking people to represent our party who are "electable," because for one reason or another, they're actually quite the opposite. "Electable," to me, means "safe," which then means "scared." Why don't we start being bold for a change? A great way to start would be recruiting Tim Ryan to run for Senate.