TBV Feature: No 2008 Without 2006

I have been extremely critical of the Democrats lately, but since the Democrats are our only viable alternative to our current collection of crisis, I would like to voice my dissent in an attempt to shake things up a bit and get the DNC to figure out just what they intend to do in the upcoming midterms. And while the polls are in our favor, a Feb. 9 poll by the Pew Research Center found that Democrats lead Republicans 50 to 41 percent in a generic ballot, the midterm elections in November are too important to leave to chance. If we lose the midterms, we will have to wait until 2008 to stop the rubber stamping of bad policy, and with nearly three more years of the Bush Administration, the damage of failing to oppose bad lawmaking can and will have disastrous results.

If you think it's bad now, fast-forward to 2008 after three more years of one party rule.

Since 2006 is so important, I can't blame the Democrats for being cautious, but caution has cost us so much in the past few months. The filibuster that never happened cost the women of South Dakota the right to choose, the caution about the situation in Iraq costs American lives every day, and the window of opportunity to exit that bloodbath with our young people alive and well, might be closing soon. With the situation so dire, you might think that the Democrats would figure out some sort of unified message, and get a sense of urgency. But doing nothing and expecting the Republicans to self destruct is dicey, and just plain stupid when you consider what's at stake.

This quote I got from WAPO this morning makes me laugh, but sums up the sorry state of the Democratic Party.

Even the party's five-word 2006 motto has preoccupied congressional Democrats for months. "We had meetings where senators offered suggestions," Reid said. "We had focus groups. We worked hard on that. . . . It's a long, slow, arduous process."
That slogan -- "Together, America Can Do Better" -- was revived from the 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry. It was the last line of Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's response to President Bush's State of the Union address, and Reid, Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have used it in speeches. But there is an effort afoot to drop the word "together." It tests well in focus groups and audiences, Democratic sources said, but it makes the syntax incorrect.

Oh my god. You say tomato and I say tomoto, but for our country's sake, say something.

If the Democrats can't find the things that make them different from the Republicans, and are arguing about grammar, I'm thinking that they might as well throw in the towel right now and just join the Republican party. Democrats used to believe in things like education. Democrats used to fight for economic equality. Democrats used to support women's right to choose. Democrats used to represent the working class and the unions. Democrats used to care about civil rights. John Kerry opposed the war in Vietnam, but now cannot advocate for an end to this insanity in Iraq.

If Americans cannot find an alternative in the Democratic Party, then where will we find it?

If our strategy is to have no strategy, and let the Republicans hang themselves, that's a huge gamble, with so much at stake. Our leaders seem like deer in the headlights, and who can blame them? Whoever wins in 2008 will have had almost a decade of poor decisions and outright criminal negligence to deal with, and that weight of that burden will be heavy and thankless.

But if we lose in 2006, the things that might happen in the last two years of the Bush Administration might make it impossible for anyone to correct.

We can't lose.

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