What the Hell Are Democrats So Afraid of?

[marmar]

from Maisonneuve Press, via AlterNet:



What the Hell Are Democrats So Afraid of?

By Glenn Hurowitz, Maisonneuve Press. Posted February 22, 2008.

As this excerpt from "Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party" shows, if Dems want a lasting majority, they have to stop caving in.



Like many progressives, I’d heard all the explanations for Democratic failings, and they all boiled down to this: a lack of smarts or competence. But was that realistic? After all, we’re the egghead party, the party of science, the party of the PhD. Could we really just be as stupid as we say George Bush is? What I’ve seen is something quite different: a lack of courage that makes Democrats afraid of implementing the strategies that work. It’s why even when Democrats win, they lose.

After Democrats took back Congress in 2006, Republicans still manage to bully Democrats and the media into controlling their agenda. It seems like Democrats forgot James Carville's basic lesson of political summer school "It's hard for your opponent to say bad things about you when your fist is in his mouth." Unfortunately, too often, the Democrats are the ones coughing up fingernails. What follows is an excerpt from my new book, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party (Maisonneuve Press), which illustrates this debilitating weakness in the Democratic Party.

****

"The senator agrees with you, but he's not sure about the politics," the senior Democratic Senate aide told me. "But if the politics changes, the senator would definitely like to vote your way -- so good luck; we're behind you." The aide was explaining to me why his boss, a Democrat who represents a rural, Republican-leaning state, hadn't supported higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks in a recent vote. The aide told me that though the senator agreed with the environmental group I was working for that increased auto mileage made sense, he was afraid that his constituents might not support his stance, especially after being bombarded with auto industry ads on the airwaves.

It was a response I would hear over and over again from Democrats as I went from leading local and state level environmental campaigns to helping direct those campaigns on the national level. When Democrats voted against us, it was rare to hear them say they didn't agree with us on the merits. Instead, they'd tell us they were afraid: afraid that their constituents wouldn't support a pro-environment position; afraid of defying President Bush and the Republican noise machine; or they'd even admit they were afraid of angering this or that corporate lobby and losing campaign contributions to the Republicans.

To be sure, on a basic level, I found their explanations infuriating: shouldn't leaders do the right thing, even when doing so might entail some political risk? But even when I put myself in their shoes and tried to see their positions from the perspective of a purely self-interested politician, these rationalizations still didn't add up: polls consistently show strong support in all parts of America for stronger environmental protections -- it's one issue that unites grassroots Republicans and Democrats. What's more, in my experience, politicians who were willing to confront powerful interests in tough battles came out of those battles more, not less, popular. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/77371/

[Benhurst]

1. Such combative thoughts are so FDR.

Today's leadership believes in reaching out.

You need to stop thinking New Deal and join the new movement, Touchie Feel.

Recommended :kick: #5

[Richard Steele]

2. K&R

[USA_1]

3. What - Democrats to Swing Back???

Not for this generation of Democrats.

Past generations would take Republcians and kick their butts from here to Kingdom come. So sad to see them puke out and flee like they do nowadays.

[Orsino]

4. Fear and hate dominate American politics, on both sides of the aisle.

I think we can pin the blame squarely on the Big Money uses fear and hate to cement its rule.

[Greeby]

5. Anthrax in the mail again? nt

[burythehatchet]

15. Beat me to it. Anthrax and Assassination. n/t

[depakid]

6. The article assumes that these folks actually disagree with right wing policies

After the past 15 years, I'm VERY skeptical of that. Seems to me that there's been just as much complicity as there has been cowardice-

[Orwellian_Ghost]

10. K&R n/t

[annabanana]

7. It's not: , "Republicans still manage to bully Democrats and the media"

It's that the Republicans and the media manage to bully Democrats...

The RW noise machine is still well oiled and humming right along. (Witness the massive prop up of McCain and the lack of digging into quid pro quo.. The information may be in the aired segments.. but they are NOT in the repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated headllines at the top of every hour....)

[madokie]

8. On the senate's side I say ole harry is punch drunk

I had high hopes for him but he has disapointed me on everything pretty much. I can say with certainty that he is not my friend.

[warren pease]

9. Afraid of appearing divisive, I guess, now that bipartisanship equals good government...

Logic and common sense notwithstanding, bipartisanship is considered a positive inside the beltway, now that it's come to mean the incessant and devout kissing of GOP asses at every opportunity. The fact that the citizenry is so bitterly divided that various secession movements and local initiatives are becoming common doesn't seem to register on these accommodating nitwits.

So it's partisan bickering if the parties actually have one of their rare public disagreements on policies or programs. But as soon as the Democrats cave -- and it's always "when," not "if" -- party leadership will return to singing the praises of finding common ground with political opponents across the aisle and in the white house and everybody pulling together for the greater benefit of the American people and because such and such piece of milestone legislation is too important to play beltway games with and blah, blah, blah.

Being relatively experienced listeners, when we hear that kind of blarney, we know there's another supplemental military appropriations bill or domestic surveillance program or a new crop of wingnut Federalist Society judges waiting for Congress' OK. We also know that Pelosi and/or Reid are about to fold like an accordion -- again -- even as their forked tongues proclaim a hard-fought victory for the American people.

And after seven years of BushCo and one very long year watching the MAJORITY PARTY leadership get played like a Stradivarius, we're pretty sure that, no matter the issue, those golden words mean we're about to get screwed once again -- just a little more painfully and humiliatingly than the last time.

But it's for our own good, so we'll just lie back and try to relax. Everything will be better in the morning... or not.


wp

On edit: tpyos

[307 MMS]

12. Perfect

Great post, Warren. Could not have said it better! Yup, just relax...whilst we rape and pilage. For the good of the people.
Can I hurl now?

[warren pease]

13. I'll do it for you...

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:


Ahhh... That's better.


wp

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

11. I understand what the Dem's are apprehensive about, considering 500+

spew outlets, anthrax, disappearing (Don Siegelman), the Arkansas project, and I probably left out a few, but what I want the Dems to understand is that unless you fight back, it is never going to stop. Look at Clinton, who did nothing to investigate Iran Contra, and look what happened to him, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, which were spent "getting him". Whether it is taking the country back for "Jesus", or making abortion safe for only the very entitled rich, even the justice department is packed with right wing operatives.

The dems must stand together and fight these guys, because that is the only thing that will stop them.

[sofa king]

14. They're afraid of becoming three-letter footnotes.

As in JFK, RFK, and MLK.

Now that the criminals are unquestionably in charge, there is absolutely nothing they cannot do and no depth to which they will not stoop.

We should all be considering what we are prepared to do when the inevitable happens.