Saturday, January 9, 2010

Fear and Fun in 2010

I take politics very seriously.

I was distressed and sometimes terrified by what was happening during the Bush years; particularly 2002 to 2006 as I watched Congressional Republicans collude with the White House to fashion an American brand of authoritarianism.

That trajectory was changed by the 2006 and 2008 elections.

An essential part of our mission those two elections was, in fact, to stop - or at least slow - this right wing surge which dominated the first decade of the 21st century.

This year is different. The brawl is on among moderate, liberal and progressive Democrats. (This can make for quite an internal struggle for those of us who have a moderate, a liberal and a progressive living within a single brain).

Maybe we do need to beat the hell out of each other over what Obama, his crew and Congressional leaders did wrong. And maybe various constituency groups do need to act out their outrage and frustration. But probably, at some point, we’re going to need a truce in order to fight our true adversary, those clever and devious Republican.

A demoralized and withdrawn Democratic base plays right into the hands of our opponents and legitimizes and reinforces the Republican strategy of twisting facts, blocking reform and disparaging the president. Do we really want to reward their bad behavior and give up ground to the likes of  Mitch McConnell, Jeff Sessions, John Boehner, Eric Canter, Tim Pawlenty and - oh yea - Sarah Palin?

I don’t think so. I’m optimistic that Democratic activists are going to get over our disappointments and unite.

And one more thing…

As we continue to argue, posture and protest, is it possible that we try to lighten up at least a little bit?  Yes, there’s a lot at stake. But if politics and policy become too much of a drag, we’ll all just want to take our ball and go home.

1 comment:

  1. The Champaign and caviar lifestyles of our elected officials has given the Sarah Palins
    and the TEA PARTY movement powerful positioning for the fall elections.

    The electorate , tiring of their macaroni and cheese existence , scratch their heads when
    they see Obama jet setting around the world in the name of peace and their kids miss another
    soccer practice because daddy couldn’t leave mommy any money for gasoline.

    OBAMA!! Hit the breaks. Your headed in the wrong direction .

    ReplyDelete