Vice President Biden noted yesterday that he hoped that the Tea Party might finally get Democratic and liberal votes out of their “lethargy.” The comment struck a nerve with me since various Democratic leaders have expressed surprise and mild criticism over the lack of enthusiasm by Democratic voters. What is striking is the fact that Biden and others continue to consider their own failure to give voters a reason to become active after years of broken campaign promises and outright betrayals of core values. The best that they can come up with (yet again) is that the other people are worse than we are.
It is unclear why Biden thinks, for example, civil libertarians should be energized after the Obama Administration embraced and expanded Bush-era policies in the war on terror. President Obama has shielded Bush officials from any investigation, let alone prosecution, for torture and has fought to block any cases that would hold companies or agencies responsible for violations of human rights or privacy.
It is unclear why Biden thinks environmentalists should be energized after the Administration opened up pristine areas of the East Coast for oil exploration and, even after the BP disaster, downplayed the spill damage to lift the moratorium.
It is unclear why Biden thinks that peace advocates should be energized after the Administration continued both wars and the gushing of both American blood and treasure.
It is unclear why Biden thinks gay and lesbian activists should be energized after the Obama Administration fought in court to preserve Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and then appealed to limit the major victory enjoining DADT.
For over a decade, the Democratic Party has based its demands for political support not on its own performance but on the “lesser of two evils” argument. They simply cannot understand why voters would be less than enthusiastic in fighting for them to retain power. Indeed, from the very start of this Administration, the clear message to liberals has been “you have no where else to go.” What the Administration and congressional democrats did not consider is that liberals, civil libertarians, and environmentalists could decide to simply go no where and stay at home.
Biden was speaking(at a fundraiser in Chevy Chase, Md. when he noted that “[m[aybe the best thing to happen to us lately is the Tea Party wins. Maybe it’ll shake some of our constituency out of their lethargy.” Biden seems to welcome that there is finally a compelling reason for voters to take to the streets: even worse people are running for office.
How about another option? The Democratic leaders could actually fight on principle over things like torture and give voters a positive reason to care about their future. If you want voters to care, you can start by giving them something to care about — other than the job security of Democratic officeholders. If the Obama Administration did not actually jettison these issues for political convenience, it might not have been more popular, but it would have been more respected and it would have garnered far more enthusiasm from Democratic and liberal voters. Instead, the Democratic leadership has repeatedly conveyed that they are concerned only about retaining their offices and power at any cost — hardly a motivating message for votes.
So here is my suggestion for a new campaign motto: “Fighting Lethargy With Leadership.”
Source: The Hill
Swarthmore mom: “No one has mentioned the fact that because of the filibuster you need sixty votes in the Senate to pass anything. Even if all the democrats voted for a bill, there are only 59 votes.”
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I did. That’s the game changer. That the Democratic party is looking for more right-leaning Democratic candidates and, when there are progressive candidates challenging conservative Democratic incumbents, work to maintain the conservative in office, tells me that the status quo is to their liking. Or to the liking of the puppet-masters.
The Democratic party worked against Joe Lieberman being unseated by a progressive Democrat. The party backed Lieberman as an independent over a progressive Democrat that had taken the nomination from him. Neither party respects the will or desires of the citizenry. It’s why deals are cut and proposals taken off the table even before the parties get to the table. It’s why just enough of something gets done to stanch the bleeding but not enough to make the country well. It’s al about pacifying the enemy and we are the enemy.
The fact that people still roll their eyes and chalk up the fact that the Democrats just can’t get their shit together after so many years means to me that people are clueless about what is going on with the Democratic party. No politician is that politically stupid. There are ways to bring obstructionist Republican and Democrats to heel; that it isn’t done is telling.
Elaine M., Swarthmore mom, Blouise, Slarti, Buddah, Woosty, et al: Before I get excommunicated for Democratic Party heresy, I would like to point out that my politcally correct Liberal Honda Fit sports a Russ Feingold ’10 bumper sticker and several checks that formerly resided in my checkbook are now in the hands of the Feingold Senate Committee. I enthusiastically voted for Dennis Kucinich for President in the ’08 Wisconsin Primary. I voted for Obama in the Presidential election with no great joy. I considered Hillary the #1 establishment candidate and Obama #2. I think maybe Hillary would have made a better President, at least in the “more guts” category. President Obama has two more years to show me a lot more than I have seen so far. If not, I will cast my first vote for the Socialist candidate.
Slarti,
I admire your optimism.
Blouise Thanks. We have to keep the faith for our children.
Buddha,
Morton’s Fork – had to look that one up… I don’t think that the choices here functionally lead to the same end.
Blouise,
Thanks for giving me some optimistic analysis (that seems valid to me) – I really needed that. I think that you’re right that the current Republican tactics (which will most likely be very successful in the short term) are going to bite the Republicans in the ass down the road. If we can avoid putting whackjobs like Angle and O’Donnell in the Senate then the Democrats should be able to retake the House in 2012 (assuming they lose it in November). I have no objection to Republicans running on what they believe in as long as they acknowledge the facts, but too many of the current crop of Republican candidates are far too willing to distort the truth, lie, and make promises that they know they can’t keep if they think that it will get them elected and the more of them we put in office this fall (especially in the Senate) the worse off our country will be.
Woosty = ^..^,
I think that most of the civil liberties issues were eaten by the economy. I think that very few people give much thought to habeas corpus (or torture, etc.) when they don’t know how they’re going to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads for another month…
… two alsos … time to quit the keyboard … good night, SwM. Keep the faith.
SwM,
There are a lot of them … they would never donate to the democratic party but they will not vote for a crazy for they do love their country and they know what the crazies are all about.
They will also be pulling the levers for democrats during this election season also … and then refuse to comment.
Blouise I have a republican brother in law who is like that. He could not vote for Palin and ended up voting for Obama in the end.
SwM,
I’m surrounded by “good” republicans … one could say I’m drowning in them and not be accused of over-dramatization.
They do not like these crazies and they are disgusted at the turn their party has taken. Unlike democrats, they don’t moan about it in public.
They are starting to actually like Obama’s careful style. They vote … no matter what, and if it’s a choice between a crazy and Obama … they’re going to vote Obama … and never admit it.
SwM,
I think we’ve discussed this before and determined that neither of us did since we were familiar with his record but many, many people did have high expectations.
The economy is turning … it is slow but it is steady … and he is a very talented campaigner. The republicans will have no one to offer except a crazy. Even if they do get control of one of the houses this year, which I doubt, they will have no power to enact anything.
I am looking ahead to 2012 … we must get some principled liberals into primaries to replace the blue-dogs. They will then coattail Obama.
The republicans are in total disarray and only crazies are winning primaries and they won’t be able to build anything out of that for 2012 … there just isn’t enough time. It is a golden opportunity.
Blouise I guess I didn’t have the expectations of Obama that many people here had. I am not as sure as you are that he will be re-elected particularly if the economy does not improve.
HenMan,
Obama let everyone down … hard. There is absolutely nothing wrong in pointing that out for it is the truth. Was he better or worse than Bush is irrelevant for he was not what he claimed to be and that is also the truth.
If he runs again he will be reelected because he will energize the base and the democratic base is huge compared to the republicans. Will he re-energizer the independents? Yes … enough to get the votes he needs. He is very, very good at appearing sincere and likable.
So, what do we who have been so disappointed in his actual governing ability do? We demand … loudly. We push … constantly. We become thorns in his side by refusing to fall under the spell.
I disagree HenMan. Russ Feingold is losing in many polls in the double digits. He is a true progressive and is losing. He was for doing all the “right” things that you listed above. The reason the democrats are losing is that the economy is turning around too slowly. Most people don’t care about Bush war crimes. They care about the economy. If you think the republicans can solve the economic problems, then vote for them.
habeas corpus is a big deal…..why the big silence from the media and on the hill?
Swarthmore mom; Carrot Top would be an improvement over George W. Bush. I think it’s time to stop making excuses for President Obama. If he knows anything about politics, and he does, he knew that he had 23 months to get legislation passed before he would lose Democratic Party seats in Congress. 21 of those months are gone. Whatever hasn’t been done by now are things that weren’t priorities for Obama. Things like closing Guantanamo, ending “Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell”, ending warrantless wiretapping, investigating Bush era war crimes, trials for “terrorists” in civilian courts (not by Military Commissions), restoring habeas corpus to it’s rightful place as the foundation of our justice system, charging everyone in Guantanamo with a specific crime or releasing them, etc,etc,etc. Feel free to add anything I overlooked. This rant isn’t directed at you, Sw mom- I know your heart’s in the right place.
We still have the largest economy in the world at $14 trillion (2009 figures). China, at $1.33 trillion just passed Japan this year (2010) to become #2. I point this out to underscore how important it is that our government be forward thinking (progressive) as opposed to backward leaning (conservative). Also to point out how necessary it is to elect men and women who, on principal and character, can withstand the temptations placed before them by the corporate structures Buddha referenced.
We are rich beyond belief and our enemies are scummy little guys who hide in caves. They are not capable of taking us down.
The only thing standing in our way is our own incompetent leadership constantly bombarding us with fearful images that simply do not exist. They do so, so that we will fail to understand how truly strong we are. For it is we who have built this economy and we who have defeated every and all real enemies.
They do so, so that in our distraction we fail to turn to them and demand what we have earned.
Morton’s fork is pointy, Slarti.
Swarthmore mom,
Maybe I can get a job doing ‘Intelligent Design’ research… Oh wait, there is no ‘Intelligent Design’ research!
Woosty = ^..^ (still),
I don’t tend to think that President Obama (or any president) knows some deep dark secret that the rest of us aren’t privy to. Obviously he has much more information than we have, but I tend to shy away from ‘conspiracy theory’ type explanations absent extraordinary evidence – I think a better explanation of behavior is the way that hierarchies subjectively filter information (in some ways, the president has a more distorted view than anyone else in the world…).
HenMan,
Swarthmore mom pointed out that several high profile Republicans have openly stated that they oppose abortion in cases of rape or incest and I don’t think that it’s a leap to suggest that they will attempt to implement these policies if elected. Since midterm elections are all about voter turnout, not voting is implicitly helping to elect Republicans and teabaggers – thus implicitly supporting the policies that they espouse. I don’t think that Tony C explicitly supports this policy, I think that his (and your) suggested course of action will allow these extremists the opportunity to make progress towards their stated goals.
As for your comment to Elaine, you act like the Democrats didn’t do anything – not true (in fact, you’re making your own straw man). Health insurance reform, consumer financial protection agency, stimulus, saving the auto industry, ending combat operations in Iraq, setting a date to begin withdrawal in Afghanistan, working towards ending DADT, etc. are all examples of Democratic accomplishments in what seems to me to be the most partisan environment since the Civil War. You can say there’s no difference between bad and worse all you want, but as Elaine pointed out things would probably have been much better if Al Gore had become president instead of George Bush (and, in my opinion, things would have been much worse if John McCain had been elected). Not voting is a choice that could have results every bit as dire as voting for the Republicans. I submit that the ‘punishment’ that you and Tony C advocate giving to the Democrats wont accomplish anything that any of us want and will likely lead to consequences that we would all consider horrific.
HenMan I still think Obama is an improvement over Bush.