I have read with interest how some in the mainstream punditry have concluded that the Lieberman loss is a consequence of the Democratic Party moving too far to the left on the war and terrorism issues - a move they predict will hurt the Democrats. Others in the talking head crowd have suggested that this "leftward" movement is bad because it is led, they claim, by a group of activists in the various Netroots organizations who are "too narrow" in their beliefs and thus will hurt the Democrats.
I believe they are wrong on both counts.
First, I believe Joe Lieberman lost in no small part because Joe Lieberman came to believe he was bigger than his constituents - not because Democrats in Connecticut had moved too far to the left. The way I see it, Lieberman's pro-Iraq civil war position was more of a symptom than a disease. Lieberman had a history of statements and actions that seemed to tell his Connecticut constituents that he was smarter then they were. These were all symptoms. The disease was arrogance on the part of Joe Lieberman. And when the Netroots saw the arrogance and pointed it out and indeed demanded better, I don't view that as a left or rightward shift, I look at is as a shift toward accountability and a demand that our elected officials offer us more than rubberstamps, politics as usual.
So, I give the Netroots great credit for leading a charge. They have clearly helped deliver change. But, if Joe Lieberman's race was the warm up, I believe Jim Webb's race against arguably the biggest most powerful Republican running in 2006, George Allen, is the big league test as to how politics is changing in America for the better and the Netroots are leading the way.
George Allen is the poster child for what is wrong with American elected officials. He is a rubberstamp for anything the Administration wishes. He has sold out to special interests on a scale not previously seen (He has, for instance, taken over $800,000 from oil and energy interests alone while voting them $44 Billion in tax cuts). He has no understanding of the responsibilities and mandates of the legislative branch in our Representative Democracy and as such seems to believe politics is about HIM not the people who elected him - even though tens of thousands of jobs are being outsourced from Virginia, hundreds of thousands more lack health insurance, 153,000 make minimum wage or less while he opposes raising the wage while he votes himself a $32,000 pay raise - the list goes on and on. And on top of all of this, George Allen doesn't even want to be in the Senate, he is admittedly bored there. Instead, he is really running for President.
But Jim Webb won't beat George Allen unless he has the financial wherewithal to do so. (Anything you can do to contribute at www.webbforsenate.com is of vital importance). On top of that, he needs a grassroots revolution to propel him and to overcome the millions in special interest money Allen has stashed away. I believe this race is the most important race in America in 2006 and potentially for a generation to come. Because if the Netroot folks can help lead a revolution that defeats one of the most powerful US Senators in Washington and simultaneously brings down a Republican frontrunner for the 2008 GOP (GOP as in George Orwell's Party) presidential nomination, politics in America as we know it will have been changed forever and Representative Democracy will have gotten a powerful shot in the arm.
Please continue - and contribute - to help lead the revolution.