Silence was Golden
In politics "silence" is rarely golden, but last week might have been an exception to that rule. While Tom Delay and Jeb Bush burned GOP political capital like a couple of pyromaniac Cub Scouts, and President Bush ignored the death of children in Red Lake like a callous, hermit king, the Democrats seemed to benefit politically by just staying silent. And yet, it is an unfortunate state of affairs when the largest political gain by the Democratic party in the past six months comes from a GOP triple error--as opposed to something the Democrats actually did.
One week later--with passions so keyed up on both sides of the political fence--it's time for Democratic leadership to break the silence. But where are they? Asleep, apparently. Asleep in the sand like an old, tired donkey.
To Demonstrate what I mean by Democratic leadership being "asleep," try this test:
- Take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle
- At the top right side of the page write "Recent GOP Concepts"
- At the top left side of the page write "Recent DEM Concepts"
- Without thinking too long, write the first thing that comes to mind for each column
Let's see what we got.
On the Right: After a week of the Schiavo Affair, just about everyone will have written "Err on the Side of Life" or "Culture of Life" on the right side of the page. I have heard these phrases or some variation of them non-stop, everywhere, for the past week. No matter what happened in the Schiavo case, no matter how much the country looks down on Bush's involvement in the personal affairs of one family--the country is now repeating "Culture of Life" and "Err on the Side of Life," which are key GOP concepts.
On the Left: (...Sigh...) Sleeping donkey. THERE'S NOTHING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE PAGE! In fact, I can't remember any recent concepts to emerge from Democratic leadership in the past month, let alone last week. Did anyone write "Congress should not meddle in the affairs of private citizens"? True, Democrats were using that concept. But did it come from Democrats? It sounds like the old "states rights" argument that's just been retooled, possibly by Libertarian Republicans.
That's the crux of the problem: Nothing from the Democrats. No messages. No clear leadership. No public statements. The last big noise from the Democratic Party was the election of Howard Dean to Chair the DNC. And since that happened, Howard Dean has vanished into thin air.
Make Some Noise!
Now is the opportune moment for the Democratic Part Leadership to make some noise--any noise. Launch an initiative. Promote an issue. Fly to Iraq. Anything will do it. Democratic leadership needs to wake up and show itself to Democratic Party supporters and the nation.
What are they doing instead?
Well, it seems that the Democrats have entered into the deep planning phase. Democratic leadership has closed itself off behind the 12-inch thick doors of the party inner circle, where they are hatching a master plan to take back this country. Meanwhile, the nation is growing restless.
One of the shocking conclusions from the Schiavo Affair was that only one party is making noise in this country. The protests from the "Culture of Life" militants in Florida became so shrill and so threatening, yesterday, that they even pushed aside the please from Terry Schiavo's brother to go home.
And still, Democratic leadership sleeps.
Rev. Robert Drinan, Rev. Jim Wallis A Clear Democratic Voices
Anyone who caught Meet the Press, yesterday, saw an amazing discussion that included Democratic clergy Rev. Robert Drinan and Rev. Jim Wallis. These are two very articulate speakers who bridge the gap between religion and politics from a Democratic perspective. I am certain that they were very busy last week, but their voices were not given more prominence by the Democratic Party leadership.
Instead, we have people like Joe Lieberman who is arguing on the floor of the Senate that we should not drill for oil in the Alaskan National Reserve because god told Adam and Eve to take care of the Garden of Eden.
While many of us wish that Joe Lieberman would go back to sleep, until the national leadership of the Democratic Party wake up and start showing some real leadership, voices like Drinan and Wallis will be silenced by ridiculous arguments about Adam, Eve and oil drilling from the likes of Lieberman.
Here is what needs to happen and fast:
- Give the party a face; make someone the spokesperson; get them on TV all the time.
- Give the party a message; make it clear; repeat it over and over again.
- Take the initiative; don't just wait to be overwhelmed by GOP hysteria.
- Talk to people in public; don't hide behind closed doors.
A face, a message, initiative, and public discussion. These four things can wake up the party and give people a sense that the United States still has a two party system.
And if Democratic leadership doesn't wake up soon, then they better get used to a new word altogether: mutiny.