Random comment from the Nebraska Democratic Party Blog 4

At 12/29/2004 02:11:48 PM, Kyle Michaelis said...

Excuse me, but a Republican president that receives 60 million votes is doing more than rallying his base. I think this insulated Internet-organized, activist-driven world so many of us like to think exists has blinded us to the simple fact that tens of millions voted for Bush without any regard for Neo-Cons, Dominion, or the Rapture. They voted for him because they felt safer doing so.

Have we forgotten 9/11? Did this whole Iraq War-thing just disappear from our radar? Seriously, this was never going to be an easy election to win. With a PERFECT campaign this year, there would have been time enough to get the job done despite the 9/11-fix (emotional connection to the voters) that was in from the start only because Bush has been such a failure in so many other respects. None of this, however, was EVER going to be easy. Usurping the Commander-in-Chief when our soldiers are dying (even needlessly) is not a matter of moving left or right. You have to beat the other guy in strength, fortitude, and vision. All in all, Kerry probably matched Bush in these as a sum total, but he never got the upperhand a challenger needs to force a change.

Sadly, the American people seemed almost primed to make such an unprecedented change, except there just wasn't enough bait on the hook. Kerry's worst debate was the one on domestic policy. He conceded education to Bush entirely and refused to go on the offensive on Social Security policy. It comes down to a failure of the "vision-thing" because he couldn't tie it all together in a good package with nice wrapping paper. Thus, the status quo wins out precisely because it seems safer, and...guess what, it has coat-tails.

Breaking any of this down to left or right is just wishful thinking. An election is about issues only so far as the American people allow it to be, and this one never made the cut. This was a gut reaction election, and you have to make one hell of an argument to overcome that if the numbers aren't already on your side. This was Bush's election to lose, and he almost did. Sure, he was helped by fundamentalist turn-out, but none of that would have mattered a lick without a lot of regular Joes getting his back.

If we are the guardians of freedom, virtue, and democracy against the armies of theocracy and greed (as we purport to be), let's at least be true to that rather than looking for dogmas of another ilk, be it Move-On, Ralph Nader, or otherwise. Labels are a tool of oppression. The purging of the Democratic Party I hear kicked around is a nice bit of delusion, but if it comes down to a firefight, the American people are far too pragmatic, comfortable, and sedentary for the "instant revolution" at its heart. A giant leap backward is so much easier. We either re-claim the middle by force of character or we perish entirely. We are still victims of a caricature that the American people have rejected. What's to be gained by eagerly BECOMING who they fear we are when we can't even make the case for who we are now?

Note, none of this is about sacrificing issues but rather how we present ourselves. We can be more bold in our proclamations but preaching to a choir that doesn't exist is the very height of absurdity. You don't win the game by taking your ball and going home for a rally - not when you're still in the game.

Nebraska Democratic Party Blog: Future of the Democratic Party, Part II