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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.
The slogan in my first state senate campaign was I see Opportunities. It was during that earlier recession, when economic times were tough.we got to work together and things did get better.
The swallowing up of the Republican Party by the Jesse Helms Strom Thurmond extremist wing of the part now called Tea Party is another opportunity Democrats have an obligation to take on.
We must not fail to use the public's fear of their truly radical agenda in our fall efforts. There is very much the American public should fear of the Palin power team.we should tell them about it.
In being laser focused on winning, there's no choice for us but to stand up to these very real threats to traditional American principles. We will win if we show we have a backbone.Voters can tell who's for real, and this matters a lot.
Democrats cowering in fear of the big bad corporate right and all their money do not present a winnable ticket. Being Repubican-lite get's us nowhere. Being who we proudly are, does.
We know who we are: strong dedicated genuinely serving the common good.
Our opponents have much to hit on: the power of Wall St, the power of the insurance industry, shipping jobs overseas, wasting hundreds of billions in non-useful military adventures.
Helping elderly, kids and education, safer foods, a new energy future, jobs and more jobs...This rise of the Tea Party is a fabulous opportunity to spell out the contrast and in telling the truth, we end up with great big victories November 2nd,
The challenge has been issued, now it's up to us to stand up straight, and have the courage to lead.
Opponents of health care reform have been using the derisive term ObamaCare to describe the reform debate in an effort to sink our president. The president, to his credit, with his back to the wall (and with us behind him!)stood and went toe-to-toe for the past month, fighting for something that he believed in. In hindsight, his instincts and political acumen appear to be brilliant.
But I want to talk about, quite possibly, the most progressive and strongest Speaker of the House we've ever had. Madame Speaker held the House of Cards together after the Brown debacle, faced down Rahmbo, whipped members running for the hills, and nudged an already shifting young president toward this historic measure.
A month or two ago, CSP took some heat for joking that women run this world...she was right, and it's about time someone said it. Pelosi showed leadership on this issue that would have made most leaders crumble from the pressure. I can't think of a single person who might have had the personal courage and political chops to pull this off.
She's not the run of the mill grandmother - she won't get a lot of credit for this in the history books, but this bill is hers as much as it is anyone else.
I came up to my camp on Wednesday night, and went into town on Thursday. Because I had to open up, I came without my 3 yo daughter and wife, and missed Mother's Day. I am a lousy father and husband, though the reason I come up alone is that my wife and daughter are allergic to dust and I have to clean the place all by myself.
Anyway, I decided to get them cards since my daughter loves cards (I got other stuff I will be giving them when I get home tonight -- jeez) in the mail.
While in Blacks, I overheard an older couple making a "wide stance" joke. Pretty funny. Then I went up to Lydia's and there was a group of women in their late 50s to 60s arguing over the merits of bio-fuels and whether they were worth the carbon costs of production and the increased food costs worldwide. Then I walked back down Main and there were four kids protesting the Iraq War for no apparent reason other than to do it.
John Edwards has gotten many laughs with the cutting line about Industry Lobbyists: "If you give them a seat at the Table -- they'll eat all the food!"
Lobbyists are the "Bogey Man" that's everyone loves to hate -- but are they really that big of a Deal?
It's just Business right? Corporations are People too. They deserve to have their Voices heard in DC, too, Right? I thought I read that somewhere in the Constitution, Didn't I? .... Hmmmm ....
It's been more than 7 months since voters took control of Congress away from corrupt Republicans, and more than 5 months since Democrats took over - and still we are waiting for real ethics reform to improve accountability in Congress. We at 21st Century Democrats ask, "are there enough reform-minded Democrats with strong leadership to convince the foot-draggers that the party will be over if they don't enact real ethics reform?" Sadly, the answer may not be what we want to hear.
The House leadership started off on the right foot in January by enacting rules restricting meals, travel and gifts from lobbyists, but some of the strongest measures, like requiring lobbyists to publicly disclose when they bundle campaign contributions for federal candidates, were passed over due to the resistance of some Members who don't get it.
