As we enter the heavy campaign season, there's been no dearth of voices weighing in on what the best strategy is for Democrats nationwide to take back the House and Senate. We need to focus on local issues. No, we need to nationalize the election. We should talk about Iraq every day. No, we must avoid Iraq like the plague. We need to ask "Where's Osama?" every day. No, because that'll just set up a "Here he is!" October surprise. We need to be nice to Bush, to avoid "offending" the middle. No, that's silly; the middle's long lost confidence in him. And on and on the advice swirls all around.
I am adding my own point of view into what the Democrats need to do. To me, it's actually pretty simple. The Democrats should communicate to the public the basic premise that The Republican worldview -- Republicanism -- is bad for America. And then campaign on how the Democratic worldview is better, and how we'll be implementing it if we get back into power.
We have NO shortage of examples to tie into the basic, overriding message. Katrina. Iraq. Social Security. The stagnant economy (for working people). The budget deficit. The re-emergence of blatant racism. Attacks on privacy. Attacks on science. The public is on our side in each and every one of those issues. All we need to do is to bundle them up into a narrative, and that narrative is Republicanism Is Screwing Up Our Country.
But instead of getting bogged down in point-by-point debates with Republicans on specific issues, which gives them an opportunity to obfuscate facts and reduce everything to misleading soundbites, we should instead focus on repeating the message: "Republicanism is bad for America. The evidence is all around you."
By running against right-wing ideology we can sidestep oft-cited concerns like "Oh, Congress has been awful, but I like MY representative!" We can pre-empt the argument that Republicans are now test-driving, which is that the very obvious failures of the Bush administration are a product of "not implementing the Republican agenda purely enough". (I'd hate to think what they would consider a "pure" implementation -- they've gotten pretty much everything they wanted.)
What can the Democrats do between now and November to reinforce this idea? Well, they should do what the Republicans did so successfully in 1994 -- obstruct the hell out of EVERY Republican initiative and make sure NOTHING gets through this Congress. Put secret holds on bills. Break the glass pane on the filibuster, and use it early and often. Slow down the business of the Senate to a crawl. Even -- ESPECIALLY -- on war with Iran. "The Republicans want to plunge us into another Iraq."
Will the Republicans squawk? Sure. Will they claim the Democrats are obstructionists? Absolutely. (After all, if the Dems roll over, the Republicans will say nothing but nice things about them, right?) But the Democrats can easily argue, "Yes, we're obstructing an ideology that is bad for America. We are holding the line against the evils of Republicanism, which is all we can do now -- give us a majority and we will be pro-active." Obstructing nutballs like Bill Frist is a virtue. If they make that argument consistently and forcefully and PROJECT STRENGTH AND RESOLUTENESS, the public will be won over. Why? Because polls show that the public is not on board with the Republican agenda, and is desperate for leadership to stand up to it. If Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi provide that leadership over the next two months, Congress will be ours. But if they revert to 2002 mode, we're going to lose. And so will the nation.
Republicanism is bad for America. Say it loud. Say it often. Amd it's a slogan that will help us well beyond 2006.