We Democrats Must Not Fail This Time!

[kennetha]

This Democratic president and this Democratic Congress must not fail. They must kick tail, take no prisoners, and transform this country. We are at a crisis point in our history, as severe as any since the Great Depression. And governing effectively will be a HUGE test of our ideas.

It is both a huge opportunity and a moment fraught with great peril for both our nation and our party.

If we succeed in reorienting this country and preserving our prosperity in these perilous times, we will remain the governing party for a very long time. If we fail, a new governing coalition will have to emerge.

Where such a new coalition would emerge from if we were to fail is very hard to anticipate. The Republican party is, I believe, a spent force. It is intellectually bankrupt and in need of a radical restructuring.

For the moment, the democratic party is the only living, breathing, political force around. If we fail, though, we will be as badly off as the Republicans are now.

So for the country's sake and for our party's sake, we cannot fail! We must not fail! We will not fail!

So fellow dems, put all the divides from the primaries behind you. We need all of the best brains of our party working to find solutions that are adequate to the challenges we face. I do not think any of us anticipated the mess we would find. I do not think either Obama or Clinton ran on a platform that anticipated where we are now. So to some extent there needs to be some rethinking of where we go from here. But that's okay. We can do it. We have risen to meet great challenges before. I do not doubt that this amazing, vibrant party of ours can do it again.

[The Traveler]

1. All hands on deck

Yep. You are quite right. I have become convinced over the past couple years that the Bushistas have not damaged the country through incompetence. I believe that was their malign intent ... cripple the nation so that economic and political shock therapies could be imposed that would break the labor movement, suppress political opposition, crush the middle class down to a bare minimum number of people, and otherwise transform us into third rate power subservient to the neo-liberal world order.

Their mission has been largely accomplished. The economic crisis has been produced and the treasury has been successfully raided. All the instruments of tyranny have been subtly established in the common practice of the executive branch.

So what can guys like me do? Stay aware. Make suggestions here and in other forums. Participate in the often painful idea mill. Keep in touch with my democratic leadership. Back our people with letter writing, phone calls, and general grass roots expression.

What we're both saying is that activism does not end with the election.

Trav

[zbdent]

2. first step ... don't form a circular firing squad ...

with the target outside the circle ...

[kennetha]

3. excellent advice

[totodeinhere]

4. Yes, that is excellent advice. But...

we need to keep in mind that the pukes have left us in such a mess that it is probably going to take a long time to fix it, certainly more than four years. That's why in everything we do we have to keep out an eye to getting reelected in 2012 and defending and hopefully expanding our congressional majorities in 2010.

With that in mind, along the way we might see some political compromises that we might not like but that we may well have to swallow anyway.