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In order to win, Democrats must deliver on policies that give working people economic security and upward mobility. But the only way to do this, is for Democrats to demonstrate that they have the ability to do this.
America has given the Democrats another shot at this. GWB was horrible, yes the entire world knows this, but he was elected in 2004 and McCain got 46% of the vote a month ago, despite Bush's huge unpopularity, the fact that he said he didn't know anything about the economy, and the fact that he had an absolute moron on the ticket with him. Barack Obama was a stellar candidate, had an unstoppable ground game, enormous amounts of money, and massive outreach to irregular voters.
Exit polling shows that 11% of the people who voted on election day were voting for the first time. 69% of those voters voted for Obama. This tells me that these people were overwhelmingly drawn to Obama's message and the specific ideas he proposed during the election.
Exit polling also shows that more Democrats voted for McCain than Republicans switching over to vote for Obama. 14% to 8%. Exit polling also show that Obama racked up the vote with people making less than $50k a year. These are the people who are struggling right now to hold on to their jobs, healthcare, and who may be pissed off about these unsupervised bailouts to fat cats on Wall Street because they see no residual benefit from it, but who may see some benefit in bailing out Detroit because their jobs or the job of someone they know may depend on it. 56% of voters opposed the bailout of Wall Street, but Obama won the majority of these voters anyway, mainly because of his insistence on help to Main Street. 51% of voters said the government should do MORE. Out of those voters, Obama got 76% of those voter's votes. 66% of voters said they were worried about health care costs and Obama got 60% of that vote. Obama also got 60% of the union vote. 73% of voters disapproved of how Congress was doing its job. 85% of voters were worried about economic conditions with 93% of voters thinking the economy is in the tank. 63% of voters disapproved of the Iraq war. The most important candidate quality was whether the candidate could bring change. Obama won that overwhelmingly. The economy was the most important issue. Obama won the categories of economy, health care, energy, and Iraq and lost terrorism.
It seems pretty evident that the voters who went to the polls on Nov. 4th voted Obama in as POTUS because they want him to dramatically change our economic, health care, energy, and Iraq policy. These people are worried about the economy and health care the most. Most people get their health care coverage through their jobs. If they lose their job, then their situation is compounded.
The Republicans understand quite clearly why Obama won. They know that Democrats win if they run on populist, progressive platforms. They also understand that Democrats maintain power for DECADES when they actually DELIVER on those promises, instead of triangulating in a manner that makes them less disastrous than Republicans. Republicans NEED the space between them and Democrats to be this >close<. Then they find some wedge issue to appeal to people's irrational emotions to skate by on.
Republicans called Obama a Marxist, Commie, most liberal senator in the Senate, and guess what? Voters weren't scared of that. They still voted for Obama. Poor folks voted for Obama because they HOPED that there would be some "redistribution of the wealth". Moderate income folks voted for Obama because they realized that his policies made sense and that in the LONG run, they would be better off. Higher income people voted for Obama because they have enough money to still be O.K. anyway, and plus, their wealth ultimately depends on the health of the economy, i.e. poor and moderate income folks consuming at acceptable rates and staying EMPLOYED (higher productivity,more people work they can consume more, see Keynes).
The fact is, Obama won on a message of Change. People saw this "change" as something that would be reflected in POLICY, not simply the tone Washington would take. Ask a person making $25k a year whether or not they give a shit about the "tone" of Washington and they will probably tell you they care about how well the economy is working. A better tone in Washington is aspirational, but sane policy is absolutely necessary.
FDR introduced so-called "socialist" policies with his introduction of the New Deal. Democrats held the Oval office until Eisenhower. After Eisenhower, America went back to the Democrats.
The fact is, we live in a very perilous time. If Republicans won't act, we have to move on. We cannot drag our feet waiting on them in order to get a "consensus". This insistence on a "consensus" with Republicans seems like a way for some Democrats to escape having to actually take a stand and fight for it, despite the political ramifications. Some things are just non-negotiable. That's why we have two major political parties in this country.
The American people have clearly given the Democrats a "green light" and demand that the Democrats grab the reins of this out of control bus we're on. There were no ifs ands or buts about it.
People clearly want us out of Iraq in 16 months.
People clearly want Universal Healthcare
People clearly want tougher regulations
People clearly want a middle class tax cut, and yes, most people agreed that the Bush tax cuts were insane and redistributed wealth upwards. They agreed that these cuts should be rolled back on those making over $250k. They agreed with their vote.
People want to see dramatic change in our economic policies. They rejected out of hand the Bush economic policy. We need to do a total 180 on that.
But Republicans will use the opportunity of the "bipartisan" mood in Washington to undermine any effort at the radical change the American people have requested. And who will these people blame ultimately? Not the Republicans. They will blame the Democrats. Why? Because they elected Democrats in overwhelming numbers to do exactly what they said they would do and nothing really stands in their way. Democrats win elections by delivering, and to deliver, we must win elections. Again, Republicans want Democrats to be Republican-lite. Then all they have to do is create some wedge issue to rally their base and to distract. When Democrats actually become the OPPOSITION and EXPOSE Republicans for what they are, we win, but we only maintain power if we ACT on what we say and DEMONSTRATE how America is BETTER OFF with a Democrat in charge.
Republicans have left Democrats with the SHITTIEST job ever. We have TWO horrible wars, and an economic collapse. Do you REALLY think the Republicans are gonna bend over backwards to assist Democrats in turning things around? Since they would like to win an election in the foreseeable future, you can count on them undermining everything, so they can come back in 2012 and say, "I told you so", while Democrats point the finger at Republicans.
Point the finger at Republicans? When you have a MAJORITY in Congress and the PRESIDENCY? That will look mighty fucking stupid and cowardly. Republicans don't want Democrats to actually DO ANYTHING that will ACTUALLY CHANGE ANYTHING. They would love nothing more than to run against us in 2010 and 2012 on a message of "change" themselves.
If Democrats sell union workers down the river with not passing the EFCA and allowing Republicans to bust the UAW by way of a forced bankruptcy in order to gain some IRRELEVANT and UNNECESSARY consensus, then we deserve whatever happens to us as a party. Republicans want Democrats to dismantle our own power bases and party infrastructure. They pushed welfare reform believing that it would somehow have a negative effect on a segment of the Democratic base and weaken support. They pushed Social Security privatization to weaken the Democratic party's senior citizen support and to take way the Democratic party's New Deal legacy. They've been targeting unions for years and are just about near success in defanging unions. If unions are no longer the powerful organizing body they are, this only HURTS Democrats, not Republicans. This undermines the economic power of the middle class and of poor workers. People with little economic power, without the ability to organize and be srongly protected under the law, have no way of influencing in any major way what they do in Washington. They are not big time political donors able to get face time with senators and reps. Republicans want it exactly that way. They fought healthcare reform in the 90s because they knew Democrats would control Washington for decades to come if it were implemented.
Now they want to undermine the Democrats in the same way they've always done. They want to prevent any meaningful change that would make Democrats the party of choice for the foreseeable future. They want this meme that the country is center right to continue. This is no secret. This is no surprise. This is nothing new. This is what they do. This is their PURPOSE.
But unlike the 90s, Democrats have no EXCUSE to capitulate to Republicans and their Nixonian agenda. Democrats have been elected to do a JOB, not simply twiddle around the edges of the problems we face. The corporate media will, of course, continue to paint an false picture of the desires of the American people. They will "caution" the Democrats against going "too far" because THEY ARE the PR machine of the status quo, of the Republicans, and of Corporate America. Democrats would be WISE not to listen to them. These are the same people who didn't make a PEEP about the various disastrous policies brought to bear under Bush. But they caution Democrats against going "too far".
We cannot allow the Republicans to hang this recession, and possible near depression around our necks in the coming elections because we were either TOO AFRAID to dramatically change the course, or too naive to believe they actually would assist us in any meaningful way. If Democrats succeed, Republicans LOSE. That's POLITICS. This isn't some kind of academic exercise.
Again, if Democrats deliver on what we said we would do, we will win elections, if we don't, we won't win elections. We should not allow Republicans to undermine our ability to deliver so that they can WIN running against our inability to get anything done.
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