I posted this back in September, and was told to shelve it until after the election by more than one poster.
OK, its after the election, We did it. We won the House, and the Senate.
I think we'll probably win the Presidency in 2008 if we campaign smart. What do we do about preventing the last time we were swept into power by Republican scandal and incompetence?
See below the fold
I'll remind everyone that in 1974, Nixon resigned and it looked like the Republicans were toast for a long time. But the Dems, effectively ruling from the 1974 midterms, got TRASHED in the 1980 Presidential elections, setting up Republican rule for 20 of the next 28 years.
The Democratic Party thought the lesson of Watergate was self-evident. But then came the bill due for the guns-n-butter party of the 1960s and the breakdown of Bretton-Woods. An Energy crisis, stagflation, the crippled military of the post-Vietnam era that was unable to coordinate a hostage rescue. Carter's failure with the Hostages Rescue that cost him his presidency, but the main reason the Republicans had a challenge so quickly after Watergate was the economic basket case the country was in.
We all know the near-future of the American economy is dire (see diaries from Sterling Newberry, Bonddad, and Jerome in Paris for the proof).
We need to start thinking beyond 2006-08, where I think we will win on memories of the scandals (indeed, we DID win in 2006 on the backs of republican scandal). But by 2012, the events of 2005-06 will be forgotten. We'll be solidly on the back-side of the oil curve, paying off crushing debts, and wondering how to handle the economic crunch of the retiring Boomers. Gen-Xers will be entering their peak earning years, and they are both a smaller generation than the Boomers and collectively less well paid. That alone will shrink the economy, not to mention the hangover from the 2000s.
By 2012, People will be tired of the efforts, just like they were weary of Carter. We have to start planning now how to avoid that trap, or the whole cycle will start over again in 2010 and 2012. The question is how. The Economy of the next six years looks like a worse repeat of 1973-79. so the lesson seems valuable.
Republican Planners at their Think Tanks seem to think so far ahead. 'Let the real tanking happen under the Dems and we'll be back in power in a heartbeat.' I think they wanted to do this to Clinton, but it backfired on them.
Does anyone have any suggestions what we, as Democrats, can do to prepare for the inevitable exaustion that will come from trying to repair the current mess? We must consider this situation NOW, between election day and inauguration day. I personally am not sure what we can do to prevent the sort of voter exaustion we saw in 1980. Do you have any ideas?