In his
diary recounting an interview with Henry Waxman,
thereisnospoon points out a frustration many of us have had for a while: the lack of a coordinated Democratic agenda and message. I've been frustrated about this too, but something struck me on a recent trip to DC.
I was there for a few days to lobby Congress. (The issue I was there to discuss is not really relevant; it is fairly narrow, notpartisan one and has little to do with a national party agenda.) I had eight meetings over the course of a day and a half, each for about 15 minutes with a legislative assistant. It was an eye-opening experience that made me realize why my frustrations were misplaced.
The fault for the lack of an agenda, massage, or coordination doesn't lie with the Democrats -- at least not the ones in Congress. The fact is, Democratic members of congress aren't going to come up with a unified national message and agenda, and we shouldn't expect them to. They just don't have the resources.
Many, if not most, congressional staffers are overworked twentysomethings who spend most of their time in 15-minute meetings with people like me. Don't get me wrong; these staffers are dedicated, hard-working, intelligent, and highly motivated. But there's just not enough time to step back and think about the big picture.
I share thereisnospoon's frustration when he writes:
Let me repeat that. NO. UNIFIED. PLAN. Let me also repeat that: SOME. SORT. OF. HEALTHCARE. REFORM. You have got to be freaking kidding me. That's all you've got? One wonkish, vague semi-initiative about healthcare, in the face of polls showing that most Americans support a single-payer system? Not even a Howard Dean-style "Cover the Children" program? And what about the rest of it?????
But how are Congressional Dems supposed to come up with that? They struggle just to get through their committee work from one annual budget cycle to the next. They have to take care of local issues affecting their districts. However well-intentioned, their staff is mostly young and inexperienced, and has high turnover. Capitol Hill is just not the kind of environment where long-term strategic thinking can take place.
However, thereisnospoon gets it exactly right in pointing out that the national strategy has to come from outside the party:
We're going to have to do it OURSELVES, folks. From the ground up.
We're going to have to Crash Those Gates, and turn this party over from the inside out.
Because the Cavalry Isn't Coming.
There is no grand strategy--and we're pretty much the last line of defense for a national message, aggressive politics, and bold policies.
We absolutely need to close the infrastructure gap. I don't think Congressional Republicans have any more big ideas than the Democrats do. But when the Republicans look outside the party for an agenda, they find an infrastructure ready to serve up a strategy that's been professionally crafted, researched, and polled and a message machine capable of effectively delivering it. When Democrats look outside the party, they find a bunch of single-issue groups fighting with each other for attention so they can try to beat back the conservative onslaught on their own narrow fronts.
So if you're frustrated with your own members of Congress or the Dem leadership for lack of organization, it's worth remembering that they have very little to work with. All we can really ask of them at this point is they not intentionally hurt the party (so folks like Lieberman still have to go). Perhaps instead of donating to individual members, donations can be made to broad national progressive groups like MoveOn, CAP, or the New Progressive Coalition.