I would like to expand a bit on a comment I made that probably won't be seen but that I think makes a salient point that bears repeating.
In 2008, Barack Obama, our first black president, was elected on a wave of hope and promises of change. Republicans ran a campaign, as they typically do, based on fear.
My comment was a response to another comment with a clip of Crazy Louie Gomert talking about Terror Babies™ on Anderson Cooper that said "If this doesn't motivate the Dems this fall, I don't know what will." To be fair , I think the commenter made this comment with tongue firmly in cheek but it is indicative of a mindset that has become pervasive here, which is that Democrats will best be motivated to vote in November by fear.
Here is my comment:
My take is that fear is a poor motivating emotion for liberals, it doesn't work with them the way it does with conservatives. I think liberals are more easily motivated by positive emotions like hope.
Therefore, I believe that this kind of thing isn't what will motivate the Democratic base so much as, for example, the nomination of Elizabeth Warren.
I've seen a lot of talk around here lately along the lines of fear, fear of Republicans taking over, fear of a President Romney or a President Palin and a lot of excoriating others for apparently not being scared enough. What I haven't seen is much talk about why Democrats deserve to be elected or reelected, what they are going to do if they get elected.
The biggest problem is the last time we went through this exercise, a lot of promises were made that weren't kept and that puts a lot of Democrats in a position of defense rather than offense.
If Democrats want to win in November, they need to take the offense and tell us not why we need to be afraid if they don't win, but why we should be hopeful if they do. And they need to be conscious that we're not stupid, we know that they didn't keep their promises the last time around and they will need to be able to react to that cynicism in a way that gives hope and not fear.
If this site is a microcosm of Democrats' strategy, it is going to be an ugly November.
I don't think that Democrats are going to win in November by being dismissive of their constituents' real concerns or by trying to scare people into voting for them, but that they stand a much better chance of winning appealing to our better angels. Give us hope, not fear. Tell us what you're going to do if you win, not what your opponent is going to do if you don't win.
Don't just make the case against the other guy, make the case for you. But don't put lipstick on the pig. Don't insult our intelligence telling us about the great and awesome things you've done for us when we can see with our own lying eyes that those things aren't that great and aren't that wonderful. Tell us why things didn't work out so well over the past two years and most importantly, tell us how you are going to fix that when we send you to Washington.
The GOP playbook isn't going to change, they will run on fear as they usually do. Will the 2010 election be an election of fear vs. fear or fear vs. hope? The answer to that question is entirely in the hands of Democrats and their advocates.