Will the Democrats ever get it? Tuesday’s election was not a referendum on the Obama Administration, but it was a referendum on the prevailing wisdom of the Democratic Party and it’s candidates. To me it is mind-numbingly obvious: when Democrats try to flee that “D” next to their names, when they run to the center and center right, they fail and fail big. Only 24% of Americans identify as Republicans. 24%. Americans do not want to choose between a Republican and a Republican-lite, yet the Blue Dogs and conservadems just seem incapable of understanding this plain fact.
Creigh Deeds managed to pretty much say everything for me. He failed to run as a progressive, and he failed to win Virginia. By the end of his campaign, Deeds was running ads attacking Obama’s clean energy agenda. Instead of defending his past record on the environment, and fighting back against his opponent’s lies and misrepresentation of climate legislation, Deeds joined him. Instead of campaigning on a pro-labor platform, Deeds took support form the SEIU for granted and opposed the Employee Free Choice Act. Instead of calling out his opponent on healthcare reform, he argued against the public option and voiced a preference for “opting out” were he to become governor of Virginia.
And what happened? Obama voters stayed home. Although Obama carried Virginia with 52% last fall, this year only 43% of those who showed up at the polls voted for him[1]. Faced with the prospect of having a Republican who would do his best to fight change, or a Democrat who would do almost as good a job fighting change, I am tempted to say that they actually made the right choice. If you are going to elect an obstructionist who is not on board with a progressive platform, it’s better to just let him be from the opposition party, rather than a Blue Dog who will just cause problems from within.
The Democrats don’t even seem to have ears enough to hear that prominent Republicans want them to do exactly what they are now attempting to do—move to the right and abandon the progressive agenda that America gave them the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate to enact. Hours after their victory in Virginia, the NRCC immediately stated that the election results were a warning shot fired across the bow of the Democratic Party. Republican Rep. Eric Cantor publicly concurred, commenting that moderate Democrats and Blue Dogs should take it into account when deciding what to do about health care reform.
Well obviously we should listen to the NRCC and Eric Cantor—they only have Democrats’ best interests at heart…duhhh.
But that’s exactly what Blue Dogs like Sen. Blanche Lincoln are doing—urging the party’s leaders to delay legislation on health care reform and climate change until after the 2010 midterm elections. The Democrats have always been their own worst enemy. They were not willing to have the backbone to stand up to the Bush Administration when they were in the minority, and now that they are in the majority, it appears they are still suffering from their spineless-syndrome.
Let’s look at another election, one that hasn’t happened yet. Harry Reid’s reelection in Nevada. Polling done by Research 2000 for DailyKos shows Senate Majority leader Reid trailing to two no-name candidates: Danny Tarkanian, a former college basketball player and real estate agent leads him 45-40, and Sue Lowden, head of the state GOP leads him 44-41. Surely this is a sign that health care reform is hurting Democrats’ chances on the ballot, right? Wrong. In Nevada, the creation of a “government administered health insurance option” (as it was polled) enjoys a 12-point margin of support, including 80% of Democrats and 50% of Independents. Harry Reid’s seemingly utter ineffectiveness, as a Senate Majority leader is why no-name candidates are beating him in the polls—and that stems from his unwillingness to commit to strong legislation and stop bending over backwards in the hopes of a completely meaningless vote from Olympia Snowe.
Some will fault me for advocating that the Democratic Party play to its base by citing the demise of the republican Party as a result of its doing just that. In the last year, we have seen the Republican Party increasingly marginalized into mere regional relevancy. Polling from, Research 2000/DailyKos, the only polls to break data down geographical, show this. Not only is there no Republican represenative from all of New England, but the party’s favorable/unfavorable ratings from the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West are as follows:
Northeast: Fav – 6%, Unfav – 89%
South: Fav – 48%, Unfav – 37%
Midwest: Fav – 10%, Unfav – 78%
West: Fav – 12%, Unfav – 77%
*(poll from September 18, 2009)
The Republican Party has become the party of conservatives in the Southern United States. End of story. So why, whyyyyyyy are the Democrats refusing to see this reality???
To the Democratic Party if any of you are listening: Voters elected you because you ran on a progressive platform. Obama ran much farther to the left than the conservative elements of the party would have cautioned and he won because he did. If you want to lose the 2010 elections, then go ahead and don’t do anything meaningful with your control of government. Unexcited Obama voters and progressives will stay home on election night just like they did in Virginia and change will finally come to Washington—you will be out of power and the republicans will be back in power.
The Republican Party has become the party of no. Don’t let yourselves become the party of “not yet.”
