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What's A Democrat To Do?

by: BurtCohen

Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 10:16:52 AM EST


The day after the election, I saw a photograph of a huge wave on a Republican Web site. I soon realized: I've seen that same photo before. After a minute or so it came to me. That very same wave picture was on the cover of the liberal magazine The Nation two Novembers ago.

Some say the wave was an ideological shift, that it's time for progressives to get the message and quit the over-reaching. Run to the center with our tails between our legs.

Rubbish. It now makes no sense, in terms of electoral strategy or for the common good, for Democrats to become pale imitations of Republicans. As the wise sage Rocky admonished Bullwinkle: That trick never works.

The anger, expressed so clearly at the polls, was about the economy. The newly elected Republicans have no plan. The party is fractured and incoherent. Their simplistic dream of jobs being created by cutting the deficit mixed with more tax breaks for the uber-rich is economic nonsense.

For Democrats to buy into this fuzzy foolishness would be incredibly counterproductive. Paul Hodes tried it and was crushed, barely two points ahead of Granny D in 2004. True, good, solid stand-up progressives like Carol Shea-Porter were also pulled down by the undertow, but the so-called centrist Democrats, the Blue Dogs, dropped from 54 to 26 in the House. When President Clinton tacked to the perceived center he was also "shellacked" in 1994.

After the last time I saw that tidal wave photo, the Republicans did not move left, where the victory had been perceived. Instead they hunkered down, attacked Democrats and went on the aggressive offense. And it worked.

The enthusiasm gap was Obama raising hope very high and letting us down. Starting off in a compromise position is not the same as leadership. Progressives failed to go on the offense for our values. We let the other side communicate the message, so we were left to explain.

As any former candidate knows, when you are explaining, you are losing.

So what's a good Democrat to do? Just as the Tea Party learned from the success of '60s lefty organizer Saul Alinsky, so progressives now really have no choice but to stand and fight.

Will we lose? Of course. In the short term. The New Hampshire Senate Democrats are decimated - from a solid majority of 14 to a mere wisp of five. There, as in the U.S. House, it does no good to become an echo chamber for the majority.

The new majority will fail to create jobs through the old, tried and failed trickle-down. Now progressives must articulate our core values.

When the new majority gives more power to the insurance industry, our indignation must be clear. Democrats have an obligation to shout it out that Republicans are taking power from the middle class and handing it up to the top 2 percent.

Stand up for real Wall Street reform and economic stimulus. Tiptoeing around this got us nowhere. And when government spying on its own citizens becomes ever more intrusive, Democrats must be there standing up for privacy.

There's no better organizing principle than adversity. This is an opportunity for Democrats to define ourselves. As a member of a previously tiny New Hampshire Senate six-pack, we made speeches and lost. Right after that, we won the majority for the first time in 86 years.

BurtCohen :: What's A Democrat To Do?
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What's A Democrat To Do? | 49 comments
Yes, and no (0.00 / 0)
The enthusiasm gap was Obama raising hope very high and letting us down.

On the face of it, that is true. Obama raised hopes, and disappointed people.

But the message I keep trying to deliver is: It's not just Obama. It is the enire political culture. (Obama, in my opinion, gets what's going on.)

I don't know how to fix it. But I know it's broken, and the voters have been delivering this message louder and louder with each cycle, and they are going to keep bashing whoever is in power until the political culture responds to them. I'm not saying they know how to fix it either. They're just unhappy with it.

That's why some great Congressmen (and women) lost. That's why Ike Skelton finally got sent home after a long, mediocre (and right-wing -- top NRA recipient in either party at one time) career. Tough year for incumbents? It will get tougher.

Or easier. How do we fix this?



I think Obama's messaging is broken too. (0.00 / 0)
He should have pushed harder for the public to understand the stimulus, why it wasn't the same as the bank bailout (see polls on that confusion), and why the concept of stimulus is what you do to create jobs.

--
@DougLindner


[ Parent ]
I defer to GD's comment (0.00 / 0)
Let's look ahead.

[ Parent ]
The message failed (4.00 / 1)
because the policy failed.  10% unemployment, 17% U-6, are unacceptable and there has been no perceived effort at improving the economy.  The president was out pitching that the Republicans drove us into a ditch, but the public didn't buy it.

It's the economy, and the public sees almost no difference in the positions of the two parties.

"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein


[ Parent ]
The policy didn't go far enough (0.00 / 0)
You have to keep in mind the artificial polarity of our political culture.  When you say something failed, people hear "the other side was right".

--
@DougLindner


[ Parent ]
I guess if I was interested in (0.00 / 0)
optics, I'd frame it as you suggest, Doug, which is what most Democrats did during the election.  "It could have been worse.", "we were saved from a depression." and "although it's not perfect, it does some good things." were counter factual optics that went over like a lead balloon.

My point is, sure, sharpen the message (while good messaging isn't all that helpful, it certainly can't hurt), but you better be making an effort at improving the economy.  And while the Democrats are facing a serious and committed obstructionist opposition party, there's still many tools available to the administration that don't require approval from Presidents Snowe, Brown, or Lieberman.  The mortgage foreclosure crisis is the perfect example and I can't for the life of me explain why the WH is so tone deaf to the massive corruption and illegalities with foreclosure proceedings.

My perspective is that the best Mad Men efforts will not be enough to overcome the trump card of employment.   The only thing at stake is a President Palin, Romney, or Huckabee and full Republican control of Congress.    

"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein


[ Parent ]
Message --> Political Capital --> Ability to do things (0.00 / 0)
I don't respect the massive oversimplification that the only value of Obama is that he's not Palin/Romney/Huckabee.

--
@DougLindner


[ Parent ]
Hmm. (0.00 / 0)
The only one making a value claim is you.  If I'm guilty of anything, it's of stating the obvious.  If the economy does not improve, none of your messaging works, and Obama is a one-termer.  

Obviously we disagree about the value of messaging, and I reject, out of hand, abstract notions of political capital - what a crock.  The concept of some invisible, immaterial value that a politician mysteriously reaps from the public is foolish.  That this ethereal currency is then fully accounted for, debits and credits, in the media by "political capital pundits" makes me lmao.  Let's get serious.

Fix the economy or suffer the consequences.


"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein


[ Parent ]
I'm no happier about the concept of political capital than you are. (0.00 / 0)
But the media-political complex's narratives are self-fulfilling.

--
@DougLindner


[ Parent ]
With you all the way on this.... (0.00 / 0)
On the mortgage crisis, instead of handing out TARP money and bailouts to banks I would have advised the President (not that I am anyone to be asked...) to

1) Use the SAME funds to PAY UP TO DATE all mortgages that were default.  This would have put the same amoutn of cash in the banks WHILE improving consumer confidence.

2) Specify that all up-to-date payments were not 'giveaways,' but a delay: the amount would be added to the end of the mortgage loan, thus preventing the Moral Hazard of rewarding those who fell behind at the expense of those who struggle to pay their mortgage.

3) Tell Banks that ONLY those who change the terms of loas to reasonably low fixed rates could participate.

4) ARTICULATE it to the public and media as a way to STOP the crisis without rewarding banks.

The problem has been twofold:  Shitty communication AND shitty results.


[ Parent ]
On the one hand, the stimulus was just "revenue sharing" (4.00 / 1)
with another name.  That's what so irked Republicans.  They hate Democrats doling out bribes because their preference is for threats and rewards.
On the other hand, the stimulus was designed to pour cash into an economy which has been deprived of currency.
And, finally, the stimulus aimed to replace the dependence on bonds which deliver a steady trickle of public dollars into the maw of Wall Street.

How was all of that going to be explained to the public

From where I sit, the bank bailout was similar to throwing steaks to the vicious guard dogs.


[ Parent ]
The bank bailout was a product of a situation that should never have come to be. (4.00 / 1)
Senator Gramm's deregulation bills should not have passed. Personally, I'd like to see proposals limiting the size of financial institutions worldwide (WTO?) to a certain proportion of gross world product.

But given the circumstances, TARP was good policy.

--
@DougLindner


[ Parent ]
simply apply - and enforce - antitust policy. (0.00 / 0)


[ Parent ]
That's my less-than-half-baked idea (0.00 / 0)
Any company whose primary business is finance and that controls more than one half of one percent of gross world product.

And it should be an international thing.

--
@DougLindner


[ Parent ]
Entire Political Culture (4.00 / 4)
You are right. It is the entire political culture. Voters expect instant results.  

We need to realize that it takes a lot of hard work, lots of incremental positive steps, and continual support of those politicians that are moving us in a progressive direction.  

We need less tearing down of those elected public servants simply because they don't go far or fast enough in our eyes.  Positive encouragement of those politicians is the key and also the courage and persistence to speak out to our friends and families about where we stand on important issues.


I agree (4.00 / 2)
Except for one thing -- encouragement is a key, not the key. We need to get them to pay attention (and no, I don't mean to us).



[ Parent ]
The expectations (4.00 / 1)
of current culture in general are for instant results on everything, politics included. That cultural characteristic has taken many years (assisted by tons of technology) to create, and it's not going away any time soon. I am not sure how we go about changing that, not even sure it's possible; but thoughtfulness and critical thinking have become rare commodities, to the point of being actively disparaged to an alarming extent in popular culture. Stupid has become cool, smart is suspect.

The general population has become conditioned to crave simple answers in sound bite sizes; they are largely disinterested in listening to (much less thinking through) complex solutions to complex problems.

In another era, FDR was able to use the most popular form of mass communication to help citizens understand the actions of government, and they paid enough attention that it actually helped reverse the crisis:

As humorist (and political activist) Will Rogers famously said at the time, FDR took "...such a dry subject as banking and made everyone understand it, even the bankers."

Most of today's citizens would have changed the station after the first three sentences.

For the sake of preserving a participatory democracy, we must discover the means to turn this trend around.

Republicans believe government is bad - then they get into office and prove it.


[ Parent ]
I couldn't agree more! (4.00 / 1)
Trying to express anything more complicated than how to push the button on the microwave to a fast food populace is so difficult.  Yes, there are thinkers out there, and I suspect most of them vote for us, but they are far from a majority.  
And then there's the question of how do you talk to a media that really has no interest in anything but sports metaphors.  
Maybe the old soapbox needs to be hauled out.  

[ Parent ]
The title of your post is spot on, Burt. (4.00 / 1)
And it reflects my struggle to reconcile what being a Democrat means with the actual behavior of elected Democrats.  Just as we feel that the Republicans have not won a mandate in the past election, we did not win one in '06 or '08.  The electorate gave us an opportunity, which I think we fumbled.  

To be successful, I agree with you that we need to sharpen our message and highlight the major differences between the two parties.  This becomes an almost impossible task, however, when Democratic legislative efforts are not aligned with our values.  You can't convince voters you are for them when you are helping to produce policy that does not help them.  There is a floor to the political ignorance in the country.

Examples include when Democrats join in with Republicans not simply to vote their conscience against a bill, but to join in to employ parliamentary procedures to block a bill from being voted on.  Or when the political elite disregard public preferences (see public option, mandates for health care, financial regulation framework, etc., ad nauseam) and shape policy to the maximum benefit of the wealthy and corporate class.  Or when Democratic Senators block or attempt to block presidential nominees to win outlandish concessions.  To put it bluntly, this shit's gotta stop.

The Republicans have made it clear that their main objective is to defeat Obama in 2012.  Both sides also understand that his chances rest primarily on 1) economic improvement, and 2) legislative victories (insomuch as these support #1).  Early on, the signals are that the Republicans plan to continue economic razing strategies in order to implement their world view, whatever that is.  (Irony note: only the Republicans could imagine that they can win a PR battle over Delaying START)

In my view, this places most of the responsibility on the president.  His noble intentions of bipartisanship aside, the status quo viewed his inexperience as an open invitation to shift the balance of power to Congress, while leaving accountability at 1600 Pennsylvania.  President Obama can continue to accede to Republican demands, watering down policy to the point that it doesn't help the economy, or he can draw lines in the sand to emphasize the differences and put pressure on the Republican coalition.

As callous as it might first sound, I'm hoping, but not hopeful, that it's the latter.



"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein


Politics as we know it may be history... (4.00 / 3)
It's hard to say this, but I think this country is in much worse shape than any of us realize and that because the system is so corrupt and because we are headed for an energy emergency and because we have a massively ignorant public, things are not going to get better.

These conversations -- to which I, too, have been an eager participant, are exercises in delusional thinking that prevent us from seeing what is really in front of us.  We go around in circles because, fundamentally it is all too late.  We have passed the tipping point on the environment, on finding alternative energy sources, on dealing with peak oil, on a government based on rationality, values and people.  

Why have Obama and the democrats been so ineffectual at making anything but sub-optimal changes?  It's because BOTH parties are filled with politicians whose votes have been purchased by special interests.  There is no longer a party that represents regular people.  And don't kid yourself, there will never be a party that represents regular people ... at least not one that gets elected to anything.

I know I'll be attacked for my negativity, but I'm seeing more and more clearly just how far gone/inadequate our culture and political system is to the challenges at hand.  We will continue to delude ourselves that if we just behave in some different way, the system we can fix the problems, fix the politics.... But we can't and we won't and something else will take its place.  Who knows what.  It probably won't be pretty.  But maybe we should be thinking along those lines rather than  continuing to massage our delusions.

"What should democrats do?", you ask, Burt.  We should step outside the system of delusion into the reality that our political parties cannot fix our problems any more.  Those with power will continue to garner power -- and money.  God knows what they will do with it.  I guess, maybe, move to Paraguay!
 


Don't give up on us yet, Susan. (4.00 / 3)
We need smart, engaged people like you to keep trying to help stem the tide.

I've had more than a few days where I have despaired over all of those same things, and then I realize that if I am thinking that way, the black hats have succeeded.

I may be delusional, but I'll go down fighting.

Republicans believe government is bad - then they get into office and prove it.


[ Parent ]
Fighting Delusions Since 1969 n/t (4.00 / 1)


Annie 2012!

[ Parent ]
Don't take the brown acid. n/t (4.00 / 2)


Whack-a-mole, anyone?

[ Parent ]
the chemist had a stroke (0.00 / 0)
Dr. Alexander Shulgin 85, a biochemist who worked at various Universities, for Dow Chemical and the D.E.A, the inventor of various chemicals and bio-compounds for enhanced consciousness, and known as the father of ecstasy, is in the hospital after suffering a stroke.
Here is a link to 2005 article on the man responsible in no small part for the proliferation of what are known as psychodelic drugs.

from the NYT Sunday Magazine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01...

what we Democrats did after the slaughter in 1968? "Turn on, tune in, drop out"...I have often wondered if the introduction of these new powerful substances was a government plot to destroy the anti war movement? It did the trick. "i saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness starving hysterical"  

Annie 2012!


[ Parent ]
4'd for honesty (4.00 / 2)
I disagree with what you said, but I'm not going to attack negativity, especially with what I've been saying lately.

Mike's reply captures my sentiments perfectly. I hope you stick around.


[ Parent ]
4'd for honesty and agreement. (4.00 / 2)
When a situation is negative and you point it out, that doesn't make you negative.  Because that's a double negative, and we all know from basic algebra that the product of that is a positive!   :>)

Here's a teaser for a terrific interview with political scientist Thomas Ferguson that really captures the essence of this discussion. It's worth five minutes of your time to read the whole thing.


What the election really shows is not that the parties can't agree - Democrats and most of the GOP leadership finally agreed on the bank bailouts, for example - but that the American people will not accept the policies that leaders in both parties prefer. In 2006 and 2008, the population voted no-confidence in the Republicans on the war and the economy. They have just now presented the Democrats with another resounding a no-confidence vote. What makes the current situation intractable is the fundamental reason for these serial failures. It's obvious: big money dominates both major parties.


"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein

[ Parent ]
thanks for link (0.00 / 0)
Have not run into Ferguson before!

[ Parent ]
That is an extremely interesting article-- worth a post of its own. (0.00 / 0)


"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

[ Parent ]
You Gotta Listen In, Susan (0.00 / 0)
My guest on Tuesday's show is Ted Rall, and from what I've read so far, he agrees with you.

The political cartoonist says "As the country falls apart, it's time for our revolution." He foresees the current collapse as bringing a real, on-the-streets struggle. Gulp.

Listen live noon to one Tuesday 11/23 on your very own computer at wscafm.org .

No'm Sayn?


[ Parent ]
will do... (0.00 / 0)
if i can bear it...

[ Parent ]
That scenario (0.00 / 0)
has certainly occurred to me.  And I suspect we need to be doing at least some thinking in terms of what can we do locally to make survival more likely.  That's why I keep pushing for local food production, because if the transportation network fails, we in NH will starve almost as quickly as the big cities.  And as we do, we will start fighting over resources.  

[ Parent ]
I have a friend (0.00 / 0)
who warns me weekly that it's  time to start building guillotines.  

member of the professional left  

[ Parent ]
got your robes, Pierre? n/t (4.00 / 2)


Annie 2012!

[ Parent ]
For goodness sake, pick yourself up and dust yourself off (0.00 / 0)
You can get all existential about man's search for meaning in a meaningless world, being and nothingness, the shadows on the walls of the cave, and all the rest, and then go slash your wrists. You can get depressed and say, it's over, it's too late, the world as we know it is beyond saving, whatever the secular version of the end of days is, and store a cache of tin cans and bottled water in the basement for when the food supply runs out.

Good luck with that.

Or you can do pick yourself up and get on with it. Do something. Giving up is not an option.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    


[ Parent ]
yeah (0.00 / 0)
because we all sit around in our jammies, blogging and eating Cheetos.

Mom.  

member of the professional left  


[ Parent ]
for goodness sake yourself... (0.00 / 0)
Keeping your head in the sand (or somewhere else un-enlightened) may be fine for you, but I prefer dealing with reality as I see it.  It's not me who's ideas are collecting dust, I'm afraid...

I prefer to "get one with it," knowing what the "it" is.  Has nothing to do with existentialism.  It's the height of practicality.  

You are the perfect spokesperson for blind faith in a dying system.  Good luck with that!

I'm sure you've heard the old saw that doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is the definition of crazy.  Need I say more?


[ Parent ]
Actually susan, Kathy and others of our generation (4.00 / 4)
did change the way things were done.  We did it by 1. Believing it could be done and 2. Doing it.  I'm sure you won't want to hear what I have to say either, but many.. some.. a couple of us... ok, ok Jonny and I got active in the 60s.  We did change the world and politics.  We ended a war and brought down a criminal president.  

Kathy is not perpetuating the old saw you referred to, she's simply been around long enough to know that change doesn't happen because it needs to, it happens because dedicated people work at making that change.

But then, what do I know?  I worked for McGovern.  IN MASSACHUSETTS!  Oh yeah.

Why do you say socialism like it's a bad thing?


[ Parent ]
I worked for McGovern (0.00 / 0)
in Oklahoma. The first in a lifetime of political disappointments.  

member of the professional left  

[ Parent ]
I was lucky enough to be living (0.00 / 0)
in the one place that actually cast electoral votes for McGovern.  Political disappointments?  Yeah.  They keep my blood boiling enough to stay in it for one more election season.  

I thought about getting out after 41+ years; Teddy is gone, Chris Dodd retired, most of the old liberals have journeyed beyond the rim tp be with the first ones.*  But, some cause or candidate always seems to grab my heart and the idea of getting out is not an option.  

* Babylon 5 reference for Doug Lindner and any other sci-fi geeks.

Why do you say socialism like it's a bad thing?


[ Parent ]
If you are so disappointed.... (0.00 / 0)
And disgusted, go ahead and give up. But the rest of us have work to do. Have fun hanging out in your jammies.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    


[ Parent ]
yeah go ahead (4.00 / 1)
and condescend to me, Kathy. I'm up here slogging away in the part of the state that's been essentially ceded to the GOP.

It  is interesting to note how hard some people are working to ensure there is no actual conversation taking place - just a lot of shaming and blaming if anyone dares question or comment that perhaps there are some lessons to be learned from this election.  



member of the professional left  


[ Parent ]
Hey.... (0.00 / 0)
You said yourself you would be attacked for your negativity.  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    


[ Parent ]
I believe (0.00 / 0)
you are confusing your Susans.


member of the professional left  

[ Parent ]
You are right! (0.00 / 0)
Okay, I take back the if you are so disappointed and disgusted and attacked for negativity comments. Sorry about that! I am woman enough to admit I goofed!
 



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    


[ Parent ]
I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused. (4.00 / 2)


Annie 2012!

[ Parent ]
"Confusing Your Susans" (4.00 / 2)
would be an excellent title for an Elvis Costello song.


[ Parent ]
Susan, we agree here 100%.... (4.00 / 1)
...and I wish/hope/pray/beg plead that Democrats will speak to Gerrymandering with a CLEAR, UNITED VOICE in the next two years, and call for districts NOIT created by the Vested interests that benefit from them.  Americans understand this and be by default on OUR side on this issue...

[ Parent ]
Oh, the Irony.... (4.00 / 4)
I am sure that many of you who are lifelong, passionate Dems are going through the stage so grief right now...having fought and worked so long to put a Democrat in the White House and to take New Hampshire state government, the scorched-earth landscape must have many of you jumping from Denial to Anger to Bargaining.....

For someone like me, who only became a Democrat in 2010 after a lifetime of Republican activism, it is bizarre case of being very counter-culture.  Sure, I become a democrat...and the part gets slaughtered nationwide.

But I have to tell you...I have never been MORE committed and convinced of that decision than I am today.  When I look (and cringe and shudder) at the Bill O'Briens and Sarah Palins and Tim Pawlentys and Jim DeMints of the world....I know that THIS is where I belong.

I do believe that Democrats must articulate a vision and a philosophy of government, rather than portraying itself as the champion of "groups" (unions, minorities, gays, immigrants, etc.)  I'm NOT saying we should stop fighting causes for the loess-powerful....but I AM saying we should ARTICULATE it in a way that speaks to POLICY, not INTEREST GROUPS:  

Not "Unions," but defending workers against abuse by corporate employers.

Not minorities, but increasing access for all of our children to education and employment.

Not gays, but the Rights of Individuals and keeping Government out of people's bedrooms.

There are people who  believe in these 'causes' who are NOT union members, or minorities, or gay....but can support the CAUSE...which is critical because it is the philosophy and cause (not the constituent group affinities) that make us Democrats.

WE must create and articulate the vision, and not allow the Right to articulate it for us.

I did not join the NHDP just to give up when things got ugly, and you guys better not either!


the clinking of revolution (0.00 / 0)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Down on our knees we're begging you please,
We're sorry for the way you were driven.
There's no need to taunt just take what you want,
and we'll make amends, if we're living.
But away from the grounds the flames told the town
that only the dead are forgiven.
As they vanished inside the ringing of revolution.



Annie 2012!


What's A Democrat To Do? | 49 comments

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