Watching Reid on Meet the Press today, made me realize that it is time that Reid steps down from his senate democratic leadership position. Although I have felt for a while that Reid has been very ineffective in his job as senate majority leader, I thought he is a good man and he means well. But things have gotten real bad. In fact I never expected that any leader of a party that won big in two consecutive elections will be in such a bad situation as he is at this point. Now I am convinced that it is time for him to step down from his post, in the interest of the democratic party and the country. Why? Here is why:
The country is in huge crisis. We are in the middle of 2 wars and at the edge of a financial destruction. And what is Reid doing these days? He is in the middle of a circus relating to Blagojevich and Burris. It is hard to understand how any leader would allow himself to be cornered like Reid has, but he did. He messed up big time. No matter what he does now, he will have a problem. Importantly, if it is true that he asked Blago over the phone not to appoint the 3 African American congressmen from IL (and we will find out that when the tapes are released), he will be tainted irreversibly and will unnecessarily alienate African Americans form the democratic party.
One could write several pages on how Reid has been unable to take a single principled stand all these years that he has been senate majority leader. Starting with his capitulation to the Bush administration by doing what they wanted in 2006 and re-authorizing and re-funding the illegal Iraq war. And that despite the fact that the democrats won that year with a strong referendum to stop the Iraq war. He has totally failed to hold the Bush gang accountable for their actions. Not only that, but he further capitulated to the Bush cheerleader senator Lieberman recently. After Lieberman humiliated openly the democratic leadership and the democratic party as a whole in the 2008 presidential elections, he still let him maintain his chairmanship and welcomed him back with open arms. For what? What is he expecting to achieve by this sort of "reconciliation"?
Unfortunately Reid is not made to be a leader. That is obvious. He may be a good man, but this job is not for him. The country if in a terrible situation. We have a great incoming president but we will also need a strong and reliable senate leader to repair the damage caused by the Bush regime. Reid can not do it. The democratic party and the country need a new senate majority leader.
UPDATE: It seems that the DKos community overwhelmingly agrees with Reid stepiing down. 94% so far in the poll. I hope Reid's staff are taking a look at this site today.
2nd UPDATE: 96% Reid should resign. His popularity has reached new lows in this site. Someone please tell him that he needs to resign.