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Let's start with a simple fact.
The Democrats, today, have no power in the US government. Looking a bit longer, we have really not had very much power for decades.
Our one bright period was the Clinton years. And even there we didn't get very much done, really. I continue to really like Bill Clinton and in many ways, as goes the refrain of some, see him as maybe the best president of my lifetime. I also must be quick to add that it was Bill Clinton the man I admired far more than Bill Clinton's policies or record.
But it may also be just as true that it was because of him that we are where we are today. No, not the blow job. No, not his skillful usurpation of some Republican positions as his own. Rather, it was simply because he 'was'. There was probably never a more embattled president than Bill Clinton. If it wasn't the 'Don't ask don't tell' effort, it was the national health care attempt. Hillary Clinton was right then and right now. There was - and is - a vast right wing conspiracy.
But that's digression.
Bill Clinton was elected with the support and philosophy of the DLC. It took what I suspect we can all admit was a capitulation to, and adoption of, the hard right views to get him in office. And what do have to show for that?
The Right's pure hatred of Clinton has become wider and wider in its scope. Given their death grip on the reigns of power, it should be clear to anyone with more than just a functional cortex that more of what allowed Clinton to win the presidency would be an exercise in futility.
Without any intent to disrespect the Al Gore of today, the fact is that Al Gore and his running mate in the 2000 campaign, while trying to run away from Bill Clinton lost because they were, in fact, Clinton-The Next Generation. We can all argue that they did, in fact win. We can also say they would have won had the plurality been bigger. None of that matters. George Bush is president today.
Last week, one of the legacies of that failed run in 2000 was turned out by voters in his own party. Politics isn't pretty and it isn't simple. Some decry the last minute black-face ad put up by a dumb Lamont supporter. Others decry the hate-filled invective of that Senate seat's defender. At the end of the day, it was 'just politics'. One guy won and one guy lost.
It should have ended there. The loser, as such losers almost always do, should have conceded and then sat in for a round of Kumbaya. The seat would have remained safely Democratic and life would continue.
And so some say, even now.
But others say there should never have even been a contest. Some say we should never have run an opposition candidate against a top tier A-List Democratic office holder.
I'm sorry, but that's a very wimpy position.
That race was the **perfect** one for what happened. On the one hand, we have the incumbent, with a long and storied record of bipartisanship. The incumbent, who, not long ago at all, was part of the team that carried our national standard. But he is also a man who has an equally long and equally storied record of appeasing the opposition and often entering in league with them and against his own party - the party that gave him that national stage. He has, for the record, been part and parcel of many fights we've lost, siding in each case with the opposition. From slinking his meaningless 'No' vote on the canonization of Judge Slappy to his vote after vote after vote for a war most of this country no longer wants. And even that record could be ascribed to votes of 'principle'. None of that explains his propensity to not only support the opposition loudly and often, but to take every occasion to bash his own party.
But still, some decry that primary race for taking a safe seat and making it competitive. Competitive? Against what? A gambler who failed to pay the vig? A card shuffling loser who can't get the endorsement of his own party? If the loser of that primary had just done what primary losers do, the seat would be safe. As it stands now, we have to fight to keep it in the D column because the *loser* has formed his own party to run against us.
That position is completely indefensible. His supporters whine. They snark. They name call. But they have little more than bankrupt arguments in his favor.
'But now the seat's not safe.'
Going back to where this all started, Democrats have no power. The policies and strategies of the past haven't worked for years. They won us what? One two-term, embattled presidency. That's it.
The primary victory of Ned Lamont was not one of a great candidate. That's not to take anything away from Ned Lamont. He is who he is. I think he'll be an okay Senator. But honestly, there doesn't seem to be anything special there. His health care plan is far from the best I've ever heard of. Far from the best. But okay, he's thinking about it.
But he's not the issue here, really.
The issue is the bold steps it took to get him in a position to even *be* a Senator. Everyone saw him as a long shot.
And therein lies the real pearl in this now-too-long monologue.
The weak-kneed would have us keep in office people we don't really support, or maybe support for the letter after their name. Those who are more bold are willing to forgo that safety - the weak-kneed position, really - for the chance to really rock the dinghy.
While a small but vocal minority of Democrats have been chaffing at the bit for a party purge, most cooler heads have not. They see this one bold step as an object lesson. And I suspect those in the party who continue to nurse those wobbly knees have taken notice and are getting their cortisone shots or scheduling a session at the Mayo with the best arthroscopic guy.
The Connecticut primary loser's record was unfortunate. His current actions are simply indefensible.
I'll close with a confession. When the name of Ned Lamont first surfaced, were I living in Connecticut, I would have been with the wimps.
I was wrong. And I admire those with the steady knees. Because of them, our entire party has taken a bold strong step in the right direction.
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