Today, Tim Kaine outlined the DNC's national message for 2010. He frames the election as a choice between "The Party of Results" and "The Party of No."
That's not going to get the job done. Accusing Republicans of trying to obstruct Democrats won't convince most Americans that the GOP is unacceptable. Instead of fighting against a tactic (obstructionism), Democrats should fight against the substance of what Republicans actually are for, because it's that substance that makes the GOP a truly unacceptable alternative.
Fortunately, it's easy to explain why the Republican Party is an unacceptable alternative. The GOP has been completely overrun by a lunatic fringe hell-bent on turning back the clock on core American values like tolerance, personal freedom, and supporting a strong middle class. At they same time, they continue to be dominated by the same ideologues whose economic policies wreaked havoc on the middle class. And since Barack Obama was elected, wherever you look, they've marched to the nuttiest extremes of the far right, giving us plenty of material to work with.
Consider: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck as leaders of the GOP; Paul Ryan's plan to axe Social Security and Medicare; Arizona's anti-brown hate law; GOP senators not just opposing financial reform, but hoping to deregulate Wall Street even more; Republican state legislatures trying to overturn Roe v. Wade by outlawing abortion; support for birtherism not just in the GOP base, but also in Congress; and the GOP governor of Texas flirting with secession!
That's by no means is an exhaustive list. You could go on and on with it. And if you'll notice, being obstructionist is nowhere near the top of the list of things that are wrong with the Republican Party.
Calling Republicans obstructionist won't motivate Democrats to vote, and it won't motivate independents to vote against the GOP, especially in an anti-incumbent year. A positive message is part of motivating people to vote for Democrats, but we also must remind voters that Republicans are an unacceptable alternative and that it would be dangerous to give control of Congress back to the Republican Party.
We can't pull our punches. At best, focusing our message on the GOP as Party of No is a bankshot, an indirect way of getting to the core problem with the Republican Party. At worst, it strengthens the Republican message, which is that the GOP is the anti-Obama party.
Calling Republicans unacceptable and dangerous might seem tough, but we shouldn't worry about being nice. To make the choice clear, we've got to be blunt. And that means framing the choice in November as being between an inclusive Democratic Party that is restoring American strength for the benefit of all of our citizens and an intolerant Republican Party that is dominated by extremists and ideologues pushing a radical right-wing agenda aimed at setting back America decades, if not more.
Democrats needn't be shy about framing the election in these terms. There's no reason to limit our campaign to fighting a tactic -- Republican obstruction -- when we we're up against a Republican Party that has been hijacked by a radical band of right-wing lunatics. Democrats are fighting for the cherished American values of liberty, tolerance and community, and part of winning that fight is challenging Republican intolerance and extremism whenever it crops up.