Last year we won a huge election. It felt great, didn't it? But look at us now.
Less than a year after taking power, the screaming and howling on our side is at an epic pace, and at the same time the birthers, the teabaggers, and other assorted fools are on the march led by the likes of Glenn Beck (ugh, please!).
We can laugh at them, and we have (including me), but what happened last week on election day and what the polls are saying today should wipe any smiles off our faces right now.
Last week too many critical elections were lost because Obama voters stayed home. The outgrowth of the Obama campaign, Organizing for America (OFA) had its sights set on supporting the President's agenda, not on electing Democrats to back him up. Not wise. But older white voters came out in droves to back up the teabaggers of the world, and the results weren't pretty.
All around unhappy Democrats can be seen (and heard).
The Stupack amendment has driven the choice supporters around the bend. Gays are grumbling about DADT. Single payer supporters are grumbling, others grumble about every rumor floating out of Washington regarding health care. Still others grumble about Wall Street, and more yet grumble about Iraq and Afghanistan. Jesse Jackson grumbles about foreclosures. I'm sure I've left a few grumblers out (no offense, its hard to keep up). There is of course an element of truth behind all that grumbling but consider.....
This week in Ohio, Obama dropped under 50% in approval rating, the Democratic Governor is now in a 40/40 dead heat for re-election next year, with redistricting on the line which will largely control Ohio politics until 2020. The midterms are now less than a year away. Does anyone remember 1994 and what the consequences were? Does anyone realize where this could all lead?
Wake up and smell the roses people. Change does not come easy or fast, especially when times are as tough as they are right now. Sixteen years of Republican rule cannot be erased overnight. If you try, you will lose.
Last year we won a battle, a big battle, but don't think for a moment we won the war. All we did is win the chance to do something. One thing about Republicans. They have known how to stick together. Do we know how to do the same?
That worries me, because if not, I fear the results. In my lifetime I've watched the long slow swing of the political pendulum from Nixon through Reagan, on to Gingrich and Tom Delay, finally culminating with George Bush the lesser (not to mention President Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld). It was very depressing to live through.
I would find it even more depressing to discover that 2008 was only a brief deflection from some larger trend. I intend to do everything in my power to make sure that isn't so, do you? Think seriously before you answer.
Some people seem to think we should hand the show back to the Republicans because it's more fun to complain about them than to do the hard work of getting something done.
(I posted this last night when most people were in bed so I'm re-posting today because I think its important for this to be said)