You know, if I didn't know any better, the comments I've been generally reading regarding Paul Hackett's departure from both the Ohio Senate race and politics in general, have been akin to the world coming to an end, that we have already lost, that the Democratic Party is full of consultant losers, that Democrats don't deserve to govern, that we suck.
Folks, you wanna know why people haven't voted for Democrats in the recent past? Shine a mirror on this site over the past 12 hours. It's not just the spinelessness of Democrats that have turned voters off. It is this persistant pessismism and, I regret to say, childish whining. Believe me, I know. I had a similar attitude before and it took having to face someone like me to realize that nobody likes a whiner.
We need to stop whining and start facing two important points.
- The Iraq veterans questioning whether to run in light of the Hackett situation need to stop looking for leaders and be one.
- Paul Hackett does him and his cause no good by taking his ball and going home.
What is the one thing that we constantly gripe about here and in the blogosphere? The Democratic Leadership. We complain and complain about what they are not doing right a lot more than what they are doing right. I have never seen so many people who so willingly supported Dean and cheered his chairmanship win turn around and condemn the man for not getting the job done.
Look I know times are tough now for everyone, myself included. Our nation's resources are being trashed and destroyed for petty greed. Our army is being broken to the point where we won't have an army strong enough to defend this nation. The number in homeless and in poverty is soaring. Our government institutions are so corrupted and broken, having lost so many highly qualified officials who cannot stand the incompetance, that we may never find replacements in time to clog the holes before the water comes rushing in. And now you got Iraq veterans, or at least people representing them, who have come back to run for office, contemplating whether or not to even bother running after having seen what supposedly our fellow Democrats have done to a man they saw as a symbol of their struggle.
My response to those veterans, not those representing them, is simple: if Hackett is so strong a symbol to you that his departure from politics is making you question your run for Congress, then you are not the type of Democrat we need nor want.
Idol and hero worship has become as craven as a drug in this country. With so much that has been lost, humans cling onto someone, somebody who can lead them through the flames of destruction. However, we are seeing first hand with our President the costs of letting hero worship and blind allegience guide our judgment and actions. Congress has fallen for that trap, and has abdicated its responsibility under the Constitution to put a check on the power of the Executive. It has cost us so much already, and it is going to cost us more before it's all said and done, possibly even the Constitution.
Now is not the time for hero worshiping. If you want to change the leadership of the Democratic Party, then you need to stop whining about our leaders and become them. Our veterans and fellow citizens running for national office must now assume the mantle of leadership, and be what we need them to be. Those not willing to throw away the crutch of reverance of people like Hackett need to pass the mantle to someone else who is ready to lead and take charge.
And now about Paul Hackett. I love the guy, I love his no-nonsense approach to handling the media and members of Congress. When he spoke, people listened. And his near-win over Jean Schmidt made him an instant celebrity with the rest of the blogosphere. But, and I do mean but, I believe the man let his ego get the best of him.
I remember the Hackett/Senate story back during Labor Day, as Kos mentioned. People were begging him to run, but he gave no answer. I'm willing to bet you that if he took the initiative then and announced his candidacy for Senate when everybody was pressuring him to do so, this would not be an issue at all. Instead, he waited until it leaked that somebody else was going to stand up to the plate, and then he announced.
What is a shame is that when Brown announced he would be running, Hackett didn't decide to return to run against Schmidt. Those of you who whined about the party leadership wanting Hackett to run a race he could not win not only shows how little you understand politics, but also exposed your weak faith in Paul Hackett. The man was two (2) percentiles shy of 50% in a district so red it makes the state of Georgia blue, and the woman he ran against, in her FIRST public address in the House, called a fellow veteran a coward and was lambasted for it by both the media and her own colleagues. Now, can you stand there and tell me that Hackett, in light of all that, stood no chance in 2006 of grabbing the seat that she so narrowly won last time?
I don't know all the details in how Hackett was forced out of the race as he claims. Something does not sit right with me here, both with the party and with Hackett. Maybe Paul Hackett isn't cut out for politics, and maybe it is good that he is getting out now before it cripples the personality we all came to love. But if we all want to change our party and its leadership, then it's going to take time and leadership, and we should not let one man's gripe with the system stop us from achieving that goal we all want. Star players don't take their ball and go home when the going gets tough; they devise their own trick play and go for the endzone. They may get chastised by the coach (leadership), but touchdowns make forgiveness easy, and in the end it's the scoreboard that matters.
Update [2006-2-14 11:51:5 by gfactor]: Paul Hackett's official statement, linked to by various diaries, confirms for me that politics was not suited for the man, and would probably best serve our nation either as a spokesman for returning Iraq veterans or a future leader of our armed forces. Either way, I would have loved to have seen him in the halls of Congress.