Democratic party's New Year’s resolution: FIGHT!
The worst of 2009 in politics for me was the way Democrats repeatedly rolled over. Is that because they have wanted to take the high road instead of slinging mud? Seems sad that our ‘loyal’ opposition have been so willing to do so and that is how politics is at the moment. No longer does philosophy alone steer debates, it’s much more about controlling the message which is often times untrue and heavy on fear. Most disturbing is that the people doing the controlling are not called out for what they are – fearmongers hell bent on maintaining the status quo, stunting the progress of the nation and bringing Obama to his knees.
Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney. Repeatedly and forcefully week after week this year those two and more have painted Obama and Democrats as being weak, immoral, unethical, calculating and dangerous socialists. What would happen if Obama or Biden went on television and said something to the effect of ‘say it to my face’ and invited either two on for a televised debate. Does it not make sense to call these people out? Guess not. Instead we allow all newspapers and television to report what ‘Sarah’ writes on facebook or tweets and rely on an assortment of mid-level people disproving her. Instead of taking Cheney’s assault by slinging mud and calling Dick out for his lies and record, we get nothing from top brass but a Gibbs snarky quote or two.
The great right wing noise machine is in full force. They are perfectly fine with disputing facts and spreading misinformation. They have an entire news organization with fascinating talking heads. And now they have a group of people that have melded into opposition: Ron Paul revolutionists, LaRouche conspirators, red neck racists and general people easily misguided and looking to yell.
Those teabaggers. My goodness. I’m not sure the best way to handle them, but I’m very sure that the current way of allowing them to act as the stepchild of the GOP, doing their dirty work without the label, is not the correct strategy. I don’t know why more attempts aren’t made by Democrats to paint this ugly fringe as the Republicans they are. There’s just a glaring lack of fight. Not taking them seriously allows them to slowly grow and grow, breeding misinformation and covered 24/7 by Fox.
I continue to have faith in the Obama Administration. During his campaign he inspired me to believe again in how government can help move the country towards a better society and repair some of the wrongs from previous incompetence. That built up all sorts of expectations in my eyes and under decent economic growth, he could have made so much more progress his first year.
Imagine what things would have looked like if the election were one year later. Bush and Congress – no stimulus, tax cuts, reduced spending and a likely deep recession or depression. Instead its Christmas ’09 and we’re told we’re out of the recession, albeit a long climb ahead. The Dow hits a new year high, economy is growing, dollar is at 3 month highs, etc. Can’t see what good it does to continue thinking about what had to be done bailout-wise, so long as we’re the wiser moving forward and all is done to recoup losses. Likewise, a larger and better targeted stimulus would have been nice, but 60 votes were hard to buy.
The filibuster. I’m confused. Why haven’t we proceeded with a filibuster? Then flood the media with congressional Democrats, Obama mentioning it speeches, and owning the message: "Americans deserve an up or down vote, stop obstructing, we have [insert military bill] to address and they are endangering our troops!"
Then there’s the question of why it’s so hard to keep a party together. That rests on the shoulders of Obama. For next year, I’d like to hear him crisply and succinctly come out in favor of a policy and visually show us that he is fighting for it. Give the party a demand or a strong position and negotiate as you have to. Hopefully Obama and company will learn how to negotiate much better than what they’ve shown.
I keep thinking that because the campaign was nearly flawless that his policy decisions would be too and that maybe he has a path he’s following. I don’t believe his vision for the country is any different than what he campaigned on. But seriously! There are some low hanging fruit he could chuck to progressives to make the path a bit more palpable, ah hum...don’t ask. :)
In all, I’m thankful that Obama and Democrats have got the ball rolling on Guantanamo, for Ledbetter, for purportedly averting a total economic collapse, the Hate Crimes Bill, restoring global credibility and goodwill, and of course, for presenting a healthcare bill, albeit imperfect.
For Christmas this year, I just want one thing from the Dems – a commitment to acquire the testicular fortitude and publically engage the other side in a unified voice. Sling some mud. FIGHT!