Let's take the Obama Megafail in Denver as a teachable moment, shall we?
In fact, this could be the most important teachable moment we as progressives and Democrats have seen in decades.
What's that lesson? VICTORY MATTERS!
If we learn this lesson we can finally put the DOUBLETAP on the zombie ideas that have given power to the conservative movement for a generation.
Let's hope that this lesson will stick with Democrats for the rest of the 21st Century. Then, maybe we can get past the eminently addressable crises we face today:
Lesson 1: Unilateral disarmament will not only lose the White House but America as we know it. President Obama better get the fire back, because even Romney's supporters don't deserve the hell that will befall us under a Ryan/Romney administration: 2 million jobs lost in the first year, over 10 years 91% of all public funding GONE. Medicare GONE. Medicaid GONE. Social Security GONE. Teachers, fire fighters, police officers, public services, public parks... America dismembered and sacrificed to the gods of trickle down and deregulation. Look, the president can have a bad day or deal with a bad debate strategy, but if he doesn't pick up his game we're lost. This is true with all Democrats everywhere. Fight or lose... this should have been obvious for years, but there you go.
[More beneath the pumpkin vines]
Lesson 2: Over the past 30 years you'd think and hope that Democrats would have learned that being right on FACTS doesn't mean shit to half the country. If you don't show them you are a fighter, if you don't show them you're a winner, they will abandon you. If we're so smart, why do we lose so fucking all the time? That debate wasn't just one moment, it was the encapsulation of how, for a generation, Democrats have lost power we DESERVE to hold and Republicans have won power they should never have been allowed to approach.
Lesson 3: When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. Where's John Kerry? Where's Al Gore? Where's John McCain? How about Michael Dukakis, Ross Perot, and Walter Mondale? They're trying to influence the world in various ways, or not, but they will NEVER have the stature of a Clinton or a Reagan. Does Obama want to be GHWBush or Jimmy Carter, or does he want to have a lasting influence on the direction of the nation and the world for the next century? America deserves better from this president, but also deserves better from Democrats everywhere. The lies of Conservatism are FINALLY laid bare: Trickle Down Economics, Neocon Adventurism, Deregulation, they're all losers for America, and the culture wars just distract from the critical baseline value of conservatism: GREED. Democrats have to win everywhere, for America and for the world.
If the 21st Century is going to be another American century, it will only happen if Democrats stand up and fight the lies of conservatism everywhere. It will only happen when Democrats proudly and triumphantly herald an age of Liberal Justice, Courage, and Freedom to destroy the current Conservative era of Hate, Greed and Fear.
Let's hope this disaster will help the truth sink in. Then finally, class can be dismissed, hopefully along with the conservative movement.