On the Contrary

Well the pundits will tell you that with two Republican governor wins in the election race yesterday, the tide is turning from the Obama revolution.  I am not so sure.  It should certainly be a wake up call for the Obama Administration and Democrats in general, but more about that in a moment.  The one thing I can never figure out is the thinking of the voters.  The conventional wisdom will be that voters were unhappy with the lack of success of the Democrats on addressing their problems so they voted for the Republicans.

But where did those problems come from?  If we are talking about unemployment, the economic down turn, bankrupt state governments, then it came from the last bunch of Republicans they elected before the Democrats were swept in.  So if the Democrats are having a hard time moving things forward, especially with all the obstructionism by the Republicans, and politics looks like business as usual, lets bring back in those guys whose philosophy and policies brought us this nightmare in the first place?  Okay, maybe the issues were more local, but to bring back in people who support demonstrably failed policies is like beating your head against the wall because you have a headache.

In upstate New York, this was a no-brainer.  A Democrat won after 150 some odd years of Republican control because conservative Republicans misunderstood the idea of divide and conquer.  This is supposed to apply to your opponent, not to your own party.  I think that people in that district are still Republican, but when outside forces tried to come in and tell them how to think, the response was predictable.  How does this result impact the radical rights future endeavors?  I don’t think they are rational and they will continue with their attempt to purge the party of moderates or anybody who thinks rationally.  It is the very definition of ideologue.

Finally, one could say that this was a defeat for the Obama Administration in New Jersey.  I have no sympathy for the Democrat in Virginia as he tried to distance himself from Obama.  You know, lets out Republican the Republicans.  He deserved his fate and Virginia deserves their fate in a throw back to a religious nut who thinks women belong in the home.  Good luck with that.  But in all this, there was a real lesson for the Obama Administration, although one I doubt they will learn.

That lesson is simply this.  Speeches don’t get it.  You had better start delivering what you promised.  Right now you have not delivered and you look like politics as usual.  I have to laugh when I get one of those “net roots” email (yes, I sent Obama money during the presidential election) asking me to do something or get out my wallet again.  My thought is, I will when you finally do any of the things you promised.  Using the State’s Secret defense to hide what really happened after 9/11, doing nothing for gays, continuing Bush policies we all hated, expanding our role in Afghanistan, are all things that you don’t need the Republicans to do something about and you have done nothing.  When you do, I might get interested again.  I think many of his independents voters feel the same.  He campaigned with a bang and governed with a whimper.  When he starts fighting for me again, then I will start fighting for him.

The message ought to be loud and clear to Democrats.  Stand tall and fight for real change, not some bipartisan half measure that fizzles.  Don’t try to appeal to independents by trying to go Republican, but stand up and fight for what you believe in.  Compromising with the Republicans will lead to failure.  The Administration could start with health care.  The bill before Congress is a half measure with a small sliver of a public option.  So President Obama could stand up and get engaged or he can watch his Administration fade into the sunset.  If he continues to get co-opted by politics as usual, trying to accommodate failed policies, and not understanding he is leading a fight for the heart and soul of America, he may destroy for a long time to come the real hope he rekindled in 2008.

My biggest concern is that they won’t get the message.  As they all dance around patting themselves on the back for a baby step in health care, the rest of us are thinking, “and you call this real change?”.  As Dennis Kucinich said on the floor of the House the other day, “Is this the best we can do?”