DEMOCRACY:
Government & Politics | February 22, 2004
THE
DEMOCRATIC
REVIVAL
A
Sample Column for Review,
As
Adapted for a Posting in "Comments
From Left Field"
A year is a
lifetime in politics.
Last winter,
we Democrats were reeling from our disastrous defeats in the
fall of 2002. And what a fall it was. Despite categorical
predictions and historical precedents, we lost seats in the
House to the party of a President mid-term. Most damning of all
were polls in which a majority of Americans condemned our party
and policies as "losers". "Losers"!
There was a
wealth of reasons, and no dearth of scapegoats, for our fall
from grace, as the party that had presided over eight years of
relative peace and unprecedented prosperity, to political
pariahs, just two years later. The public had rallied behind the
President who led us through the horrors of 9/11. He framed the
election as a referendum on security; and regardless of the
public's ambivalence towards his march to war, whenever security
is the issue the GOP wins. The Democratic leadership failed to
voice a strong and clear message of its own, on practically any
issue. Our party had been divided and conquered by the President's
setting the agenda; on votes for his tax cuts or war powers, far
too many lawmakers broke ranks with our party for dissent on
either issue to serve as a rallying cry.
The GOP
controlled all three branches of the federal government and the
terms of the national debate.
Our party was
a "loser". And the nation, too.
Then, in the
winter of our discontent, there arose a son, not of York, but of
New England: As bright, hot, and unrelenting as the
summer sun was former Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean MD.
The feisty
physician shocked both Democratic and Republican establishments,
by condemning the "complicity" of the parties, particularly in
the "unprovoked war" on Iraq but also in everything from
taxation to healthcare. Still politically incorrect to be
branded "liberals", we "progressives" had a champion!
Millions of
Americans, particularly the youngest or the best educated, who
had felt their intelligence insulted by the powers that be, now
felt empowered by the things that might be. These true believers
heeded the call of this secular evangelist and -- particularly
through the new medium of the Internet -- poured tens of
millions of dollars into his Presidential campaign, and turned
out by the millions in small "meet-ups" nationwide.
The
Democratic Party, all but dead, had arisen, fiery and
formidable, a phoenix in reverse.
The months
went on. The deaths went on, even after a "Mission Accomplished".
The jobs went overseas, even as a "recovery" continued. The
credibility of the Administration (allegedly elected for its
integrity) went out the window, as no weapons of mass
destruction were found and hundreds of billions of taxpayers'
dollars were lost (in a quagmire overseas, tax cuts for the
rich, and Medicare "reform"). As the party in power enjoyed less
favor, the "mad doctor" from Vermont made more sense, to more
people...including some politicians within the establishment he
continued to rail against.
By the end of
last year, there were more Democrats running for President than
most voters can remember, their campaigns happily roasting the
incumbent over the fires of discontent ignited by the firebrand
from Vermont, their means often flattering by imitation (no
candidate caught dead without blog or meet-up).
Then
something extraordinary happened. The President delivered on a
promise he made: Our troops pulled out the Ace in the hole.
History was
rewritten -- removing the Butcher of Baghdad, not his boasted
weapons of our mass destruction, became the justification a
posteriori for war -- and the campaign of the doctor who had
prescribed just peace was destined to become just history.
Often "over
the top", his rhetoric had been excused if not esteemed as
straightforward and bold, forgivable in excess for the
righteousness of its cause. Most, however, now considered his
outspokenness recklessness, a liability for achieving an even
greater cause, now seemingly within reach: The winning of "the
middle", once scorned but now courted, to wipe that damned smirk
off the face of the "winner" who had made us -- and our
cherished beliefs -- such miserable "losers".
The
candidates farthest to the Left and the Right failed first;
those deemed most "electable" (most Kennedyesque, in heroism,
name, charisma, or hair) gained quickly the favor of record
numbers of voters in primaries and caucuses nationwide.
As the
general election approaches, as the President spends from his
most massive of war chests, his deficit in the polls will shrink
as surely as that in our budget will grow; but one fact will
remain unchanged: The Democratic Party was revived from its
near-death experience by a doctor named Dean.
Return to
Archive of DEMOCRACY: Government & Politics
Home
| Editor | Values
& Issues
| Feedback
| Legal | Links |