Which Path to take -- How About Both?

Many, specifically, KOS have reminded us of Goldwater in 1964 when thinking of this defeat.

Frankly, I'd rather think of neither McGovern or Goldwater, even though both parties came back from landslides to when the next election.

The fact is there is one big difference between them and now, George Bush did not win in a landslide...he did not win with a mandate...now, he squeaked one out, much like Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and that led to Harding in 1920. Not that I want to dwell too much on that comparison either.

But there are some appropo comparisons on the other end, that do not involve landslides for 1964 and 1972.

Bush has his own "relative" Vietnam (smaller scale for now) and his own potential Watergates still out there (Plamegate, the unreleased CIA Report, Halliburton Investigations etc.) I think there is a good chance that like Spiro Agnew, Cheney will be pleading Nolo Contendre to something by late 2006. The economy isn't exactly running gangbusters either, and there's not much room to kick start it anywhere.

So Bush has got his hands full in dealing with reality, nothing unusual there, but there is a difference in dealing with it when you are a lame duck. Virtually every second term President has things come back on him, has some sort of disaster, there is every reason to believe that the things we thought would lead to his defeat in 2004, will, in time bite Bush in the ass, and bite the GOP even harder.

That, of course, justifies what some Democrats will take, which is the safe path.

Well, fuck the safe path. Running against the GOP as the safe and sober party hasn't changed their rhetoric, we are all still "liberals" anyway.

The fact is that, despite the fact we've still won elections, and still from time to time controlled Congress since LBJ left in disgrace, doesn't change one fact. The Republicans, for all their reptilian ideas, have had the initiative for more than three decades.

The Democrats remain the victim of great success. Democratic policies between 1933 and 1968, won a world war, ended a depression, set up a social safety net, provided the greatest flowering of civil rights in our history, stabilized and grew a large economic middle class, provided the world the dominant social culture, gave birth to the policies that followed by members of both parties won the cold war.

That is a hell of a record, and the GOP has never stopped resenting these successes. They've been chipping away at the margins for years now, they've had the initiative. The Democratic Party response has been generally, "look at our record" maintain the status quo, its worked for you. Playing defense hasn't worked.

It is time to stop relying on GOP overreaches and fuck ups, and push a progressive agenda again. Seize the initiative. Stop just relying on the sound and rational argument that "too many of these fuckers are crazy" and start telling people how WE will make their lives better, as opposed to preserving the lifestyle WE helped proved two or three generations ago.

The infrastructure is there.

Frankly, after four years of Bush fuck ups, it is going to be hard for Jeb (god help us) or any other GOP candidate in 2008, let us hope we add to it by seizing the initiative of progressive policies, rather than taking the DLC Republican light approach, that is simply playing defense. It's the political equivalent of playing prevent defense in football.