It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion....
You can't take your eyes off of it.....
You stare with morbid curiosity.....
And it's only a small sampling of the times to come....
I'm not talking about the Republican party for once... No - I'm talking about the DNC, because I have no conceivable idea where in the hell the party is... It's like watching an accident happening in slow motion because this has been the trend since 2000.. For the last 5 years, the Republicans can thank a floundering Democrat leadership for resting on its laurels while licking their wounds each time this administration called them to be anti-American..
Instead of reaching out during this unprecedented time - the Dems have failed in their ability to govern themselves enough to formulate a single policy that won't look like an inept WalMart idea.. The DNC leadership should be leading - and I'm not at all impressed with Howard Dean's attacks when there's no substance behind them..
Create a platform..
Educate the masses..
Generate interest..
And the nation will follow..
Dean has proved that he can holler, scream and criticize the NeoCons -- but there's little else to follow.. No plan, no strategy, no form - just a basic critical analysis of how this administration is corrupt.. Great.. We know that - and I think the majority of Americans can see that..
But there's no alternative, sorry Howard..
There's no voice, no leadership, no direction, nothing that separates the Democrats from the Republicans.. This lack of cohesion is devastating and now that Dean has been chair for the last year - I would've hoped he had much better ideas on how to prepare for 2006, but that has yet to happen.. So once more, voters will be asked to deal with the mediocrity of the field and likely side with the party that has ideas -- or rather -- the party that is passionate about their ideas enough to sway anyone to believe that Saddam was linked to Al Qaida....
It's factually incorrect - yet the general public doesn't mind it as long as the senator, representative or President is passionate about it because the public is incredibly persuaded on virtually anything as long as you sell it right.. And that's what the Republicans do better at than the Democrats..
It's not as though the Republicans can lead better -- hell, we are *not* better off than we were 5 years ago, but again - there's nothing that the Democrats are putting out in the field to say: "hey, we're better and here's why...." Instead, the Dems are more comfortable with sitting on their heels and complaining all the way..
The *only* thing going for the Democrats are the fact that the Republicans continue to shoot themselves in the foot.. From mis-handling Iraq, to the illegal dealings with the SEC, to committing treason by outing information about a CIA operative.. The Democrats can't ask for a better present - and yet we seem to squander the message, the path and the goal.. They do well at pointing out this administration's shortcomings, but there's virtually no activity coming from their camp.. No voice, no action, no drive..
Without those essential elements, we lose the ability to push the majority of Americans from it's teetering stage and bring them back to the Democratic party.. The Republicans know this - and have successfully employed these attributes for the last 8 years.. The only way to secure the Dems in 2006 is to establish that voice and spread it out for the masses.. Win on the popular issues and the tide will turn....
... but the clock is ticking and with a flailing administration - there's no better time than to emerge with a plan, a course and a goal... There needs to be a voice that surfaces that brings us out of this political depression we've put ourselves in for the last 5 years ...
Bush won in 2000 - get over it..
Bush won in 2004 -- get over it..
Make this about tomorrow and get back in the game..
Enough with the banter..
Enough with the Monday morning quarterback mentality..
Establish the voice and make it happen..
Democrats: Wake Up.....
Monday, October 24, 2005
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ReplyDeleteIt is a good op-ed piece, and coming from someone on the Democratic POLICY Committee, I fully expect at least a rough outline of a plan..
ReplyDeleteBut I don't hear Dean, Clark, Reid or Pelosi stepping forward with any real sense of a policy.. When I read George Miller's piece that you site, for the first 1 1/2 pages it spends attacking what has happened and only 9 sentences in what his idea of the plan is supposed to be..
This is what I'm talking about.. The policy head describes in 9 sentences in what needs to be 9 paragraphs explaining it in detail.. He's giving bullet points, but his analysis of how Bush's administration has been deficient spans paragraphs..
If anything Miller's piece only confirms that which I said in my blog -- it's a light framework that blows over in the wind..
- Return 46k troops after December elections?? So what who can take over.. Figure out that the power vaccum is vicious in that region and leaving the untrained Iraqi people to themselves only causes further problems..
- Aid for democrasy issues allowing for independent political growth: an oxymoron.. That's why this constitution has such a hard time passing is that they can't agree on what the established government should look like.....
- A bold statement that says that the Iraqi security forces need to step up ... without any idea how that is to be accomplished.. The security forces do NOT have a government that they can answer to yet.. A Constitution is a first step - but new recruits are being slaughtered by the insurgency.. It's hard to have a security force "step up" when there's no one there to do the stepping...
-Stop financing Iraqi elections and candidates.. That's tough considering that what the Iraqi people want - differs than what this government expects to put in place for them.. The Iraqi people do not necessarily want a democratic system for their government.. Not when you're dealing with 3 major decisive groups that all want to make Iraq in their own vision.. I think at last check, only one such group wanted to become a democrasy.. We're imposing OUR system over their wishes..
The bullet points are fine - but without further analysis in how they resolve the residual issues that shadow the resolution, then I might as well say that every Iraqi man, woman and child should be entitled to a free cheeseburger from McDonald's because this outcome is much more likely than that which is coming from the Dems at this point..
Strategy based on analysis, not soundbytes...
Thanks for stopping by!
-Michael