Monday, July 09, 2007

Is Obama too nice?

On Sunday's Meet the Press, columnist David Brooks offered an interesting insight. After admitting that he was really impressed with Senator Barak Obama, he offered an opinion of why he isn't rising in national polls of Democrats, despite his amazing record of grass-roots fundraising. According to Brooks, the reason the Democratic base hasn't warmed up more to Senator Obama is that he doesn't offer enough red meat. According to his argument, the Democratic base isn't interested in Obama's message of optimism for the future and cooperation to solve our nation's problems. All they want to hear is Bush bashing.

This analysis has enough ring of truth to it that Democrats should be a little worried. In their book "Crashing the Gate", liberal bloggers Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas offer a compelling argument that the Democratic tendency toward negativism and stridency (especially within the special interest groups) has cost them in recent national elections. They have even coined an irreverent motto from the rallying cry of pro-choice activists, saying that Democratic special interests insist on their "right-to-lose".

With the Republicans in disarray over the Iraq War, corruption in Congress over the last decade, and a dismal record of the Right in addressing our nation's problems, it would be a shame for Democrats if they yet again snatch defeat from victory in the 2008 presidential election because the base fails to learn the vital lesson that America wants solutions and vision, not merely criticism and negative rhetoric.

As the saying goes, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.

1 comment:

Alienated Wannabe said...

Dear Steve,

I don't think Barak Obama is too nice. Rather, I believe his approach to campaigning is exactly what we need in this country -- greater civility.

Unfortunately, not just for him, I fear that David Brook's observation is accurate for both parties. We claim to be sick of "politics as usual," and yet we party loyalists all kind of enjoy sticking it to the arrogant and loud-mouth extremists on the other side.

What we do not realize is that to the average American, we are the loud-mouth extremists! (Keith Christensen's recent announcement seems to illustrate that point for me as a Republican.)

Apparently, we all see ourselves as being enlightened, higher forms of life, towering above the wretched creatures of the opposition who crawl at our feet. It is just too tempting to step forward and crush the ugly and threatening-looking bug crouching before us.

Ironically, this habit of reflexively squishing the competition eventually leads to intra-party cannibalism, where we eat our own if they violate our notions of ideological purity. For example, politicians like Jon Huntsman (R) and Jim Matheson (D) are extremely popular with the average citizen, and yet they are routinely vilified by certain party "purists" for alleged violations of "true" party positions. How dumb is that? Really!

I believe that we have ignored George Washington's advice to our peril. In his farewell address, he warned us against the damaging effects of the political parties and letting them have too much power.

In my opinion, one of the damaging things the parties do is create artificial polarities: To be a loyal member of party "X" you must subscribe to yaddy, yaddy, yadda, and to be a loyal member of party "Y" you must believe blah, blah, blah. Because of this gang mentality, we frequently have decent people coerced into defending indecent positions:

1. Abortion.
2. Pre-emptive War.
3. Gay marriage.
4. Grinding on the face of the poor.

As I have said before, this phenomenon has so artificially divided the classic liberal tradition such that nowadays a lot of garbage gets peddled as being liberal when it is anything but. And, that is why people like me are forced to adopt the false label of conservative.

I am a Republican because I sincerely believe that party best defends the liberal positions (now called conservative positions) that matter most to me. But, as you can tell, I am not in harmony with everything some of my fellow Republicans believe -- immigration, being one major area of difference.

I imagine that you are in a similar situation as a Democrat. Thus, I sincerely wish you well. (But, I will be supporting Romney instead of Obama. Sorry, bud.)

Sincerely,
A.W.