After years of poking around the Daily Kos, I've finally decided to join and write a diary. I've developed a sense of urgency that I hope spreads through the rest of the Democratic base.
(Note: I signed up for the Daily Kos on Wednesday, unaware of the one-week waiting requirement before posting a diary. Many of the diaries written that day have this message, but in my opinion it’s a good message. I understand that this is a “repetitive topic”, but I hope you’ll bear with me on my first diary entry. )
I have been a reader of the Daily Kos since 2008. The site was a comfort of source during those times. Whenever the ever conservative media (and it is a conservative media, don’t let FOX tell you differently) would project gains for McCain or blow an Obama “gaffe” out of proportion, I would head to the Daily Kos to find what rationally minded liberals like myself were saying about the days events.
I poke through diaries on occasion, but never felt like writing one myself. That is until I came home from Tuesday’s election, tired (I covered it as a journalist) disappointed that none of the candidates I voted for won, and was blown away by the Republican wins.
I became a Daily Kos member the next day, and wrote this diary entry then. Its been saved for a week until I can post it onto the site.
How did the Republicans do it? How did we go from a huge surge for Democrats to giving it all back in one night? There is a part of me that says this is not a “referendum on Obama’s policies” as the Republicans have said. I think there are plenty of people out there who remember which party it was that allowed Wall Street to do what it wanted, entered the nation into two wars that it may not be able to win, and took a budget surplus and turned it into a deficit. Americans are not dumb people. We’re highly intelligent; the country is becoming an increasingly informed electorate,
So, why the Republican surge? It’s simple. They organized this on November 5, 2008. And that is why Democrats need to organize themselves starting last Wednesday. The GOP got in lockstep with one another, made no efforts to reach across the aisle, all while promoting a message that Democratic policies were bad. Readers of this site know the stimulus worked. There are non-partisan studies that have stated that the stimulus saved America from a horrendous economic collapse. The Republicans repeated over and over that it did not work and then pointed at unemployment numbers as proof. On Health Care, Republicans, somehow suddenly fiscally responsible after taking the country for a ride when they were last in power, focused on the cost and maintained that the new plan would cover abortions. Never mind the health care it could provide to middle America. Never mind the savings it could mean for small businesses. The plan was scary, because it was different.
On Wednesday, a diary by brooklynbadboy proclaimed that Harry Reid ran the best campaign of any Democrat. From that post:
“He was always confident of victory. He never once backed away from anything he did. He stood his ground and stuck with his president. Most importantly, he turned to his base the old-fashioned way and used political tactics straight out of the old-school Democratic Boss playbook.”
What can we learn from Reid? Everything. As a pary, its time for Democrats to stop running scared. Run with confidence. Defend our principals. These are the principals of the working class. Democratic principals support strong education, innovation in the job market, affordable health care for all, and an end to wars that send out nation’s youth overseas. Remember what we stand for and remember that those principals are at stake every two years.
The time to act in 2012 is not during those primaries. Its not after this new Congress is sworn in. It is now. Before the Republicans take the gavel in the house, it is time to get organized. From top to bottom, support candidates that will support Democratic ideals. Start having the conversations with your neighbors now about what we had after 2008 and what we have now lost.
At a national level, its time for Democrats to fine tune their message. It’s a message that falls on deaf ears, not because it is a failed ideology. Rather it is because it is not a solidified message. Republicans gleefully point out that Democrats do not vote together and often splinter. The whips in the House and Senate need to make sure they have their votes the next two years, and that those votes stand for Democratic ideals.
And when the Republicans begin to take America back down the path that they have before, the Democrats must be there to remind voters of what the GOP did with Clinton surpluses. We must remind the country of failed leadership in the past. The Democrats seemed to play on this theme near the end of the election. By then, it was to little, to late.
If we sit back and stop fighting for our beliefs, they will be washed away in a sea of red. In 2008, the country was filled with hope and promise. It is time to bring that message back to the people. Democratic ideologies can resonate with people. The DNC needs to ask itself if it is doing all it can to make sure that message reaches the people.
Cheers,
51dimes