Shrill

Krugman, as he often does, gets this about right:

Longer-term studies of public opinion suggest a substantial leftward shift. James Stimson, a political scientist who uses data from many polls to construct an index of the overall liberalism or conservatism of the electorate, finds that America is now more liberal than it has been since the early 1960s. And the tactics the right has historically used to distract voters from economic issues, above all the exploitation of racial tensions, have been losing their effectiveness.

But the Democracy Corps memo warns that “Democrats have not yet found their voice as agents of change.” Indeed. What the memo doesn’t say, but is all too obvious, is that one big reason the Democrats are having trouble finding their voice is the influence of big money.

The most conspicuous example of this influence right now is the way Senate Democrats are dithering over whether to close the hedge fund tax loophole — which allows executives at private equity firms and hedge funds to pay a tax rate of only 15 percent on most of their income.

Unlike the GOP which managed to have it's Congress go further than all but the very core of it's base wanted it to go (including the bulk of its donors); the Democrats seem stuck with their leadership that is too stilted. Rahm Emanuel has skills in playing a tight electorate, but he is hardly an "agent of change" that the public is demanding. The "beltway" disease is as bad at making the Democratic Leadership dithering as it is making the Republican Leadership morons. I guess "dithering" can usually beat "moron" in an up or down election, but that is not why most people call themselves Democrats. I'll leave it to your own judgment as to whether there's a degree of significance for the GOP characteristic -- but after nearly seven years of this, our nation's worst President, I think the jury is in.

You win elections by getting out voters, all the money in the world doesn't change that. Even the GOP can't disenfranchise enough people to make it otherwise. But if your message is "we're just a little better because the other guys are insane" you are not exactly giving people a great reason to vote for you. You're giving them a reason to hold their nose.