Despite Election Results, Edsall Still Sees 'Red'

[cal04]

Thomas B. Edsall, replacing John Tierney this month on The New York Times' op-ed page, follows up his ill-timed book, which had predicted hard times for Democrats on the campaign trial, by forecasting more trouble ahead for the party. With his track record, the 2008 elections may be in the bag for the Democrats.

When John Tierney was finally ceremoniously booted off The New York Times’ op-ed page, there was some hope that his guest replacement this month, Thomas B. Edsall, after a distinguished career at The Washington Post, would provide thoughtful commentary in that unliberal column slot.

So what does he do on Saturday? He offers advice to the Democrats on how they can avoid certain disaster for the party and stop trudging along as “No.2.” He also predicts that liberalism is “dead” and “rigor mortis” will soon set in, and the party as a whole must undergo a “painful transformation.” This comes on the heels of the Democrats’ national triumph, and it comes from a man who in his recent book was prescient enough to write, "The Republican Party holds a set of advantages, some substantial and some marginal,” meaning that "the odds are that the Republican Party will continue to maintain, over the long run, a thin but durable margin of victory."

Talk about bad timing. Just weeks after the release of Edsall’s book, the GOP lost that predicted edge in the House, the Senate, statehouses around the country, and governorships. It’s amazing they still kept their majority at FoxNews. The leader of their party now sits in the White House with a 31% approval rating. Yet here is Edsall, the ace prognosticator, dispensing wisdom to Democrats.

The title of his book, by the way, is “Building Red America.” The last I looked the building boom had gone bust for the Republicans, and Red America had turned pink or blue except in the Deep South and the Great Plains.

Greg Mitchell
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003438500

[Kagemusha]

1. Hey, it's not like Dems have no work to do here.

Iraq was the best selling point for Democrats, by far. Democrats will need to earn public support over the next 2 years.

Having said that, the new Congress doesn't sit for a while. There's no reason for hysteria about how the Democrats are certain to lose now that the public's thrown them a bone that they can't handle. Two years is a long time in politics. Pelosi hasn't been sworn in as Speaker yet. Esdall's just making a fool of himself by overstating his case. It's not that there is no case; it's that Esdall is not understanding that he is in a poor position to advocate it.

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. Nonsense. It's the economy as it affects them. In other words

neither life, not limb, nor honour, nor dollars will be worth anything to them, unless the Can'ts' are forced to return their ill-gotten gains with interest, not solely to the Haves but also to the Have Nots and the Have Less and Lesses, so that they can survive other than on the street, as indigents. How foolish do you think your fellow-countrymen are?