So much for "Yes, we can!"
But, don't despair! The Democrats always do best when they're the underdog themselves. Consequently I expect some good stuff from the remaining members beginning in 2011.
Where the energy for change had somewhat disappeared in recent months, I can now envision a second wind to bring about change come hell or high water.
Perhaps one of the best things that could happen to the Democratic Party was to go down in defeat on November 2nd. For months now, party members and independents were telling their elected leaders that they had to stand for something, not just in opposition to what the Republicans stood for, or the Tea Partiers.
In addition, there is always an advantage to the underdog, and that's what the Democrats are now in the House of Representatives.
Many of us in the progressive community assumed that we put people in office in 2008 who would take leadership and take care of our problems and those of the needy. Many of us were disappointed, and wondered why everything was so darn difficult to accomplish. We wanted real health care reform. We got something remotely called health care reform, but really another opportunity for those in corporate America to make more money from our government.
"Don't ask, don't tell," seemed to be mired in a yo-yo, taking up valuable time that should have been devoted to making the rich pay their fair share of taxes, cutting the national debt and deficit, creating real jobs that weren't just bumps in the road, pulling in the reins of polluters like BP and its cohorts in the corporate and money trading communities.
We can't entirely blame our president. He can't reform this country by himself. However, he should have surrounded himself with better advisers, not leftovers from the crooked Bush Administration. Witness the surge of troops in Afghanistan that further drains ours country's resources everyday.
Now that the Democrats are the underdogs and have eaten their humble pie, perhaps they will improve their vision to coincide with those constituents who work daily for a better America and world.
If I see more of the same as I've seen in the last two years, I, for one will be looking elsewhere for leadership, and that could be outside both of our two major parties. We need REAL change, not just bad change that's made just a little less bad.