(CA) Press Enterprise: What agenda?

[question everything]

What agenda?

2/2/05

A good-natured suggestion to the Democratic Party as it works this year to rebuild itself: Don't repeat the GOP error of believing your own spin. It's not enough to oppose President Bush and everything he stands for. The party needs to promote a positive agenda of its own, too.

(snip)

At the same time, some on the left are becoming ever-shriller in their opposition to President Bush's agenda. They're against his policy in Iraq, against his judicial nominees, against his Social Security reform, against his suggestion for tax reform, against his vision of "an ownership society." Which leaves us wondering: What, specifically, are they for?

Some Democrats may believe that vilification works; after all, the Republicans won historic gains in Congress in 1994 after then-House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich demonized President Clinton -- right? Not exactly. Some people forget that the GOP also gave Americans something to vote for. Opponents derided the Contract with America as a political gimmick. In fact, it was a clear agenda for what the Republicans would do if they won the majority -- namely, balance the budget, impose term limits, cut taxes, and slash wasteful bureaucracy.

Gingrich failed as House speaker because he believed his own spin... The Democrats can learn a key lesson from Gingrich's failures, but it isn't the one they think. Consensus-building, not hyperpartisan politics, is what voters want to see. An agenda of obstruction is a sure-fire loser.

Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/editorials/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_op_02_ed_dems2.5896a.html

[KissMeKate]

1. yes we have won so much by cooperating with Bush!

eom.