[AGL] Fwd: Bob Herbert

[Harry Edwards]

Bob Herbert absolutely *nails* the Dimmercrats.                   twisty

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dave McQueen <dmcqklaatu at NETSCAPE.NET>
> Date: May 11, 2006 6:43:05 AM CDT
> To: GHETTO2 at LISTS.WHATHELPS.COM
> Subject: Bob Herbert
> Reply-To: Remembrances of Austin Ghetto <GHETTO2 at LISTS.WHATHELPS.COM>
>
>  
>  
>  
> May 11, 2006
> Op-Ed Columnist
>
> Where's the Beef?
>
> By BOB HERBERT
>
> "You can't think and hit at the same time." ? Yogi Berra
> "One must be something, in order to do something."
> ? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
>  
> Enough already with the analyses ad nauseam of the strategies and 
> tactics and philosophies that the Democratic Party should pursue to 
> regain power in upcoming elections.
> We've been listening to this armchair chatter for years: The Democrats 
> need new ideas. They need big ideas. They need to move to the center. 
> They need to wave the flag. They need to go to church. They need the 
> soccer moms and the Nascar dads. They need to run from the blacks. 
> They need to run from the gays.
> I have no more patience with this perennially pathetic patient, this 
> terminally timid Democrat who continues to lie cowering and trembling 
> on the analyst's couch, wondering why the Demolition Derby Republicans 
> control virtually all of the levers of power in the United States.
> The Democrats are thinking too much and doing too little. This is a 
> party in need of a moxie transplant. It's time for the patient to 
> climb off the couch, walk outside and mix it up with the gang that has 
> made a complete and utter mess of the country that was entrusted to 
> it.
> The polls tell us that the G.O.P. is ready to be routed. President 
> Bush's approval ratings are at the lowest levels of his presidency. 
> The war with Iraq is now widely ? and properly ? viewed as a disaster. 
> Respondents to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll said they 
> believed the Democrats would do a better job on nearly all of the 
> major issues facing the country.
> Now would be an excellent time for Democrats to pounce, to show 
> genuine leadership. This is not the time for yet another round of 
> thumb-sucking, for more mind-numbing nonsense about narratives and 
> framing, for more abstract talk about how to define the party. The 
> public needs to know what you plan to do about the war. What's your 
> energy policy? How should we deal with Iran?
> What the Democrats need more than anything, with midterms coming up in 
> the fall and a presidential election two years later, are personable 
> candidates of strong character who have at least some measure of 
> political courage and are willing to stand up for what they truly 
> believe. This is the stuff that leaders are made of.
> In 1948, when Harry Truman had already been dismissed by the political 
> geniuses as a certain loser, he got on a train and took his case to 
> the American people. Truman told his sister: "It will be the greatest 
> campaign any president ever made. Win, lose or draw, people will know 
> where I stand and a record will be made for future action by the 
> Democratic Party."
> There are no Trumans in sight in this Democratic Party. Democratic 
> candidates and potential candidates are still agonizing with their 
> analysts over exactly what to say about this issue or that. (They're 
> trying to figure out ways to talk about the war, for example, that 
> will offend neither hawks nor doves.) What's almost funny is that the 
> patient has been doing this for years, and keeps losing election after 
> election.
> Why not try something new and liberating, like the truth? Forget the 
> theorizing and strategizing. Tell the truth about what's happening 
> now. Let the electorate know how much the Iraq war is really costing ? 
> in human treasure, loss of influence around the world, increases in 
> gasoline prices and cold, hard cash. Tell the truth about the 
> monstrous buildup of state power by the Bush crowd, which has 
> undermined the freedom and privacy of innocent people here at home, 
> and angered many conservatives.
> Talk straight about the unconscionable assault on working people in 
> the United States.
> I remember all the chatter about moral values after the last 
> presidential election, and how the Democrats would have to pump their 
> values up if they were ever to win again. I never bought it. The 
> Democrats didn't lose the last time around because they lacked virtue. 
> They lost because John Kerry was a lousy candidate.
> If the Democrats don't know what they believe in yet ? if they're 
> still figuring that out ? they don't deserve to win. Politicians are 
> supposed to lead, and the U.S. has seldom been in more desperate need 
> of leadership than now.
> It's time to climb off the couch, Democrats, present yourselves to the 
> public, and take a stand. If you're personable, and possessed of just 
> a little bit of courage, you're halfway home.
>  
>  
>  
> Try the New Netscape Mail Today!
>  Virtually Spam-Free | More Storage | Import Your Contact List
> http://mail.netscape.com