I was reading an essay by Anna Quindlen today on Newsweek (link) and was stricken by one fragment of it. The quote goes, "If the Democratic Party still believes in any of the things it once stood for - a living wage for working people, equal access regardless of race or gender, freedom from overbearing government intrusion, help for the needy - then..." The rest is her conclusion that there is a lot of opportunity for the Dems. Is anyone else stricken by this listing of the core beliefs of the Democratic Party? With the possible exception of the "living wage" (the minimum wage is a point of honest disagreement) all of the other major points and priorities are not unique to the Democratic Party. As a matter of fact, they are positions which have been embraced by the Republican Party as central policy positions. And yet, a sincere democrat sees them as the party's core differentiators.
Maybe this is the problem with the current Democratic Party. Maybe they are not running against their present opponents, but against ghost of past opponents. They ran John Kerry against George W. Bush. Okay, fine. But who was Kerry really running against? If you listen carefully to the charges and left out the name, it sounded like he was running against Richard Nixon. (Who has been dead for many years now, and disgraced for decades before that even within his own party.) If you listen to the Democratic rhetoric about civil rights, it doesn't sound like they were running against a man who elevated minorities to some of the highest positions in the history of the Executive branch. It sounded like they were running against pre-Civil War figures. What was once simply overblown rhetoric has become doctrine within the party of JFK and FDR. The reality distortion embraced by the Clintonites to defend their man has been embraced to the point where the distortion is more valued than the underlying reality.
Is it any shock, then, that the voters didn't embrace this party in 2004? When faced with a president firmly rooted in the present and a challenger lost in the past, any wise and logical person will embrace the president. Even if they may be unsure about many of his policies.
My advice to the Dems: It is fine to look back for your core values. But you have to also face the realities of the present. You won many of the societal wars you fought in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, so much so that the opposition has embraced your ideals. Therefore to differentiate yourself, you can not count on these same ideals. Men and women of my generation (Gen X) do not vote a party line because our parents and grandparents did. (It comes with the territory when we are taught to be skeptical of all things.) We must have a reason to vote one way or another. And for at least 8 years, the Republicans have offered a dynamic and modern view of the future, while the Democrats have offered more of the same old, same old. It is time for a change for the Dems. It is time to bring out new ideas, or admit that you are the new "conservatives" in that all you want is keep looking to the past.
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