I have decided to write this post to give my opinion on why the Massachusetts Senatorial Election is so close. Why one of the bluist of blue states has a toss up for an election. I am not as eloquant as NYCEVE, or slinkerwink. I am not as knowledgable as BarbinMD or kos. I am just the "average Joe" who gets involved in my community and struggles to get by. I also ran for City Councilor in my City in the past election (and pretty much had my "tank" handed to me.)
As I watch the race between Coakley and Brown and talk to other democrats, (Note: I have made calls for the Coakley campaign but would not consider myself part of the campaign)there is just no enthusiasm in the democratic party. But the question is why isn't there any and where did it go?
It is my opinion right or wrong, the enthusiasm left BECAUSE of the lackluster performance of the U.S. Senate and to some extent, the U.S. House of Reps. We wanted change. We worked hard to capture the House, the Senate and eventually the White House. We did this to elect Democrats who would fight for the Democratic ideals and stop letting the corporate lobbyist write the bills that became law (i.e. the bankruptcy bill and the medicare part D bill to name a couple). We fought the DLC, we fought them because their Republican lite talking points did not resonate with the Democratic Masses. Their rhetoric was geared for people that would never vote for a democrat and did not enthuse (there's that word again) their own base. I remember a post by Kos amd one part was seared into my brain that just showed why the DLC was a "corporate friendly" joke. I paraphrase- When Terry McCauliffe and the DLC ran the DNC from 2001-2005, they lost, 6 Senatorial seats, 13 House Seats, and 1 Presidential election.
Then, the netroot community grew and grew and really grew. leaders like Howard Dean took over the DNC. The DNC ran on the Democratic principles and we started to win. By 2008 we had the House the Senate, and the White House. Change was in the air. A new day was dawning.
And then the unthinkable happened. Our leaders went back to their old DLC ways. The long term Senators and Reps. who were in the minority stayed the minotrity party. They stood in line for their corporate donation payouts. "If only we had the Majority" cry became "if only we had 60 votes" and "Joe lieberman is only against us on the War" turned into Joe is only against us on the War and everything else. We found out Baucus, Nelson, Lincoln, Johnson, and even Dodd where better Republican lites than Democrats. The Dem's in the Senate could talk the talk but skittered back to that skirts of their corporate lobbyist friends when it was time to walk the walk. DLC'er losers like Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner and Lawrence Sumners became the power and the progressives who took back the majority were out in the cold.
Our dreams of a Universal healthcare bill, Credit card consumer protection, marriage equality, the end of the War in Iraq and Afganistan, a fairness doctrine, re-regulating the banking industry, reinstating a marginal tax on the richest 1% and the employee free choice act went down in flames.
And now the DNC is asking us to become enthused to elect a Democrat over a rethug. They want us to work hard and donate because they have done so much for the democratic party and capitulated on every democratic principle. To any and all Democratic Aid and/or politician who reads this post, If you want me and people like me to support you in 2010 and beyond, it's time you start supporting your voting constituents. It doesn't make much sense to just support your financial constituents when you can't get the voter's to support you.
I am going to end this post here. Discuss it, eviserate it or agree with it.