Yesterday’s post "Fear and Loathing: The Midterm Elections" swirled around in my head all last night. In a nutshell, this is the situation and what troubles me.
While the Republicans have an empty agenda, their bluster is about as loud and domineering as their platform is vacuous. On the other hand, the Democrats have a full agenda typified by deep concern for their fellow Americans, yet they have no backbone when it comes to promoting and enacting such policies. The GOP has the guts to fight for well, nothing. But boisterous they are in battling for their party platform of "no". The Dems indeed do have the substance for legislation our country needs. Alas, the Dems lack the bravado to see it through.
To my mind, even when the Dems do offer policies of change, they then back pedal if their ideas are met with any controversy. Witness President Obama’s "clarification" of his support of the mosque to be built a few blocks away from ground zero. Even if not intentional, any subsequent explanation to the initial statement can be considered backpedaling due to public outcry, surely a sign of weakness. Shoot: the President should have realized that half the country already thinks he is a Muslim, and that they are going to talk about him anyway. He should have stuck hard and fast to his initial position in the defense of our sacred first amendment and not retreat from that overriding issue by succumbing to "safe politics".
So in a nutshell, that is my conclusion. To top it off, Maureen Dowd today has an Op-Ed piece that agrees with virtually all that I have said:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
No guts, no glory. If President Obama is guilty of anything, it is his lack of glory-seeking. He needs to temper his modesty and go all-out to state his accomplishments. Since when is a seasoned politician too shy to brag?