Or so seems to be the prevailing wisdom in Washington, D.C., where winners and losers from the Republican and the Democratic Party get together, and
plan for "opportunities" ahead at an exclusive retreat for the well-to-do away from the hoi polloi. It seems that
David Axelrod, the well-known advisor to President Barack Obama, is going to attend the bipartisan event held by Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential loser in the 2012 election, and give a speech at that event with the likes of Rep. Paul Ryan, Governor Christie, Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson, and the DNC Chair, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The list of speakers includes some surprising names, including David Axelrod, one the masterminds behind President Obama’s campaign to defeat Romney last year. At various points during the campaign, Axelrod accused Romney of being secretive, dishonest, and “living on a different planet.”
In the announcement, which was included in an email to supporters that was obtained by the Globe, Romney also says the speakers will also include his former running mate, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, as well as Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who chaired a bipartisan debt-reduction commission.
If this isn't a display of back-scratching that typically goes on in Washington, D.C., then I don't know what this is. It makes a mockery of the entire political process that went on in the 2012 presidential election, and shows you that the people that President Barack Obama surrounds himself with are not the kind of people that are truly concerned about us regular Americans, and couldn't give a damn about what happens to the middle class. Whatever policies they're discussing at this retreat, it's certainly not the kind that will help the middle class get ahead with increasing wages, improving regulations, and balancing the playing field in their favor.
Our party has been taken over by those who are tilted towards Wall Street instead of Main Street. They serve the elite, and not us. We haven't crashed the gates at all. The gate has been closed on us after the 2004 presidential election, and gilded even further with more locks, obstacles, and barriers on the land surrounding that gate. If we have to have any hope of justice for the middle class with a future that is bright for us all, we've got to take the party back.
Get involved at the local level. Take over the county parties. Take over the state parties. It's what the Deaniacs did in 2004 after Howard Dean lost, and we fought to get him in place as the DNC Chair. It's time to do what we did in 2004 for 2014.
This is what we need to seriously discuss and do as a progressive community. Are you in?