MEMO: TO THE NEW BOSSES OF THE PARTY – WE ARE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER BUS.

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MEMO: TO THE NEW BOSSES OF THE PARTY – WE ARE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER BUS.


A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE

When the contemporaries opened their newspapers and read about the ‘Missouri Compromise’ they probably thought that a great conflict was avoided. They didn’t realize that the conflict had been in fact narrowed and that the state of Kansas would run deep in blood and the divisions of the country cemented making conflict inevitable.

Those passengers on that bus had no idea that Rosa Parks’ tired legs and stern constitution was going to ignite the moral outrage of a community, the thrusting of leadership to a young pastor and a great social revolution.

CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP

We are on such a bus now.

This is not just a generational change of leadership in the party. It is not even an ideological one.

It is a change of ownership. The bosses that juice this campaign wouldn’t fit into a smoke filled room. They wouldn’t fit into a stadium. They would overflow the State of Rhode Island.

Next week some lucky American citizen will become the 1,500,000th boss of this campaign. It is a campaign that has way out raised its budget and people still line up to give a little bit more.

And so the bosses are not giving up until we reach 2024. Fine. I checked with the other 1,499,999 of us and we can wait.

A CONFUCIAN PARADIGM

Our new bus driver keeps talking about change and everybody thinks he is talking about Bush but he actually is talking about everyone including us. First we change and then we move it up the scale – change from the bottom. Very Confucius. Change your home and you change your community, change your community and you change your state, change your state and you change the nation, change your nation and you change the world.

And he actually says it if you listen carefully.

And while we are counting our delegates and trading our barbs and conducting micro surgery on what such and such’s surrogate said while having his cat neutered about the need for changes in the national weather administration the driver on the bus is taking us down a new road.

A NEW REALITY HAS ALREADY BEEN ACHIEVED

The corporate ownership of the greatest democratic political party in the world has ended.

If it was necessary and I mean absolutely necessary for us to raise ONE BILLION DOLLARS (apologies to doctor evil) we could do it in ten days. We could.

Really the funniest moment in the whole campaign is when a bunch of former bosses wrote a letter protesting Speaker Pelosi’s desire to have the nomination go to the winner of the most elected pledged delegates according to the rules, and they threatened with their pocket book. That was just embarrassing.

OBAMA KEEPS SAYING THAT WE ALSO HAVE TO CHANGE

Now that we are the bosses and we own this party we have to begin to prepare ourselves for a General Election campaign and for Taking Control of the Government.

He has given a couple of examples of what is different in this bus.

One) Use Legislation to legislate and not for posturing and political stalemate.

He says that we have to avoid ‘poison pill legislation’. Legislation that a large majority of the country wants but one party puts something objectionable in it causing it to be defeated allowing the party to go back to its base and get more support while bashing the opponents in the media and never intending to pass anything.

The Republicans do it by not making an exception for the health of the mother for late term abortions. I suspect that we do it on Social Security. We could negotiate a good deal (not perfect but good) but would rather smash the other side over the head in the press and make the base angry. Our old leaders never wanted this one to be solved.
Too many easy headlines, too many easy slogans, too many easy points

Two) He says that we will actually have to listen to each other, including Republicans. Actually listen and not jump to impugn their motivations immediately when they say something. He says if we listen to them they will start listening to us.

Well this is going to be an interesting challenge for DU to say the least.

THE PREDICTABLE: NOT TOUGH ENOUGH AND NOT PURE ENOUGH, ALREADY STARTED.

Obama doesn’t have the nomination yet and there are already threads that he isn’t tough enough for the Republicans (confusing entirely the difference between having a family argument with a fellow Democrat and a no holds barred fight with the third Bush term).

He hasn’t been sworn in yet and there are plenty of folks who say that they are entirely unhappy about his overly moderate tact on policy (while ironically the Republicans will be framing him as the most liberal Senator in history).

WELL I DON’T LIKE THIS CHANGE BUSINESS

This change business don’t like it, never have. Hate it when somebody wants me to get out of my comfort zone and try to do something differently. Try another approach.

But given the fact that he was able to take control of the party away from the old entrenched bosses, given the fact that corporate America – even the good ones – no longer are underwriting our Presidential candidacy – I am willing to listen to this guy and if he wants me to change well I will try it.

If he can get 1,500,000 new bosses lined up to push out corporate ownership, if he can push out the old powerful dynasty, if he can get 10 million or maybe 20 million new voters registered this summer – and I think that is what his next plan is – then I am willing to let him have the benefit of the doubt.

If he is able to do this then I will see about the changes he wants me to look at, after all I have waited forty years for this bus and I’ll be damned if I am going to miss this bus ride.

Oh and remember the new bus driver’s #1 rule:

NO THROWING ANYONE UNDER THE BUS.