File this one under "Duh": The Democrats have a base enthusiasm problem.
While it infuriates me to hear Democrats attacking Obama or TRANSFERING the sins of Lieberman/Nelson/etc on the rest of the party, that's the way things are going right now. The Democratic base has decided that Obama's inability to cajole the conservadems means that he's a sellout/weak/ineffective/etc. Whether that's a fair assessment or not, it's become a pervasive opinion amongst the base. They may answer "I approve" when polled, but the enthusiasm is clearly lacking.
People like me (and other folks derided as "Obamabots") have been pushing back hard against these folks for the last few months, but we have failed, and I am now convinced that we will never succeed.
At this point, I'm resigned to the fact that a SIGNIFICANT portion of the Democratic base will continue to be depressed by the Obama administration's current strategy. I think these people are crazy, but we cannot wish them away, so we need to think of other tactics for dealing with them.
First of all, we need to admit that while Obama has done a fine job so far (with some key mistakes - but overall, a fine job), his messaging has not been up to par. Specifically, his "base relations" strategy has been pathetic. It's no wonder that so many people have latched onto silly critiques of Obama that make no sense ("He sold out to Lieberman!!!") (this makes no sense because 59 is less than 60 - see: math). There's an information vacuum out there. Despite hundreds of small progressive victories and "changes" over the last year, the Obama administration has failed to reach out to these people and give them something to cheer for...he hasn't spread the word effectively. I actually hear people say that all Obama has accomplished is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (a mostly symbolic piece of legislation that doesn't really change much of anything). They can't even get his accomplishments right!
Honestly, I have no idea how he'd "spread the word" more effectively. Maybe the OfA list should have been used to herald small progressive accomplishments? Maybe if he'd come up with a theme for the first year, he could have tied everything together behind that theme (the media likes themes, and they like things that fit into nice boxes).
The 2nd thing Obama needs to change (other than his base relations strategy) is that he needs to adopt a more populist tone. The country is in a populist mood. When people don't have money, they get angry, and they like to blame large institutions or nefarious forces. It behooves politicians to demonize these forces during these periods of economic angst. It seems so obvious, but there are real dangers to "Obama the populist":
- It's not his style. He'll be faking it. He's a calm, pragmatic, cerebral politician. It's not his style to demagogue groups of people...even if they LARGELY deserve it.
- There is still a danger in America that this will come across as "angry black man", which is something that he's been trying to avoid throughout his life. I don't know how real that danger is...but I'm cynical enough to know that America is NOT a post-racial society.
Populism is of course usually just empty angry rhetoric (see: faux-posturing about fair trade by center-left Democrats or faux-posturing about big government by Corporate Welfare Republicans), but we're talking about motivating a base that is leveling an empty critique of Obama, so it all balances out I suppose. John Edwards' faux populism (he had a DLC voting record in the Senate) seemed to convince the base that he cared about the little guy and that he was "outraged, just outraged" by nefarious forces that were hurting the little guy, so Obama can accomplish the same thing, I suppose. Hopefully he'll attach some substance to his rhetoric, as there are some populist reforms that would benefit this country tremendously (financial reform).
I don't really have any answers. I'm throwing my hands up in disgust at this point and acknowledging that the current approach isn't working, and the base is not happy. The base is transferring their disgust with the economy, the political process and the bad apples in the caucus to Barack Obama and the Democratic brand. We can't stop that. It's going to keep happening over and over and over. That's the reality, and we can't keep ignoring it or mocking it or wishing it away. Many of these people thought Obama was a european style liberal and that he would change things immediately and without much effort. We can't go back in time and shake this belief out of them - we can only press forward.
It's time for Obama to figure out a way to dialogue with these folks and win them back...even if they're dead wrong...
UPDATE: This diary isn't really a reaction to Coakley v. Brown. GOTV, baby! I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I've been feeling this way for a long time.