Can Pres. Obama TRANSFORM Us? Maybe.
I've thought for some time (maybe 25 years or so?) that Republicans were much better than Democrats at the real ESSENCE of grassroots, small-d democratic politics: Getting ordinary people who talk to each other across the back fence, or who pass in the supermarket aisle to genuinely understand, genuinely believe and genuinely support their sometimes simplistic but highly marketable ideas.
In a truly democratic society, this is vital, and it is an area that Democrats have sorely neglected. We have tended to hold too many wonky seminars, write too many snooty op-eds, and in general sort of hop from one lofty peak to another in the arcane minutia of policy disputes, ignoring the living populace in the valleys below.
Even when we may have been 'right' intellectually on the issues, we have failed to acknowledge the central FACT of democracy: It isn't enough (and may not even be necessary) to be RIGHT. A consistent majority (most not college professors or policy wonks) must UNDERSTAND you, SEE you as right, and VOTE that way.
I think to this day that that was a central problem for the Clinton Administration: He managed to get a bare plurality to vote him in, and he did a brilliant job in my opinion with what he was given to work with. However, he failed to leave any identifiable PROGRAM behind to rally the public around. 'Clintonism' (such as it was) did not 'sell' as well as Clinton himself did, and was not easily transferable to other less brilliant, less articulate, and less deeply studied and knowledgeable candidates.
I think I see a real chance here to reverse that trend:
Bush has jumped the shark in every possible way. Republicans have LOST the 'benefit of the doubt' advantage they have carried since Reagan. It is truly possible for Democrats to regain that same edge they had from FDR thru the early LBJ era, and become once again the default 'party of the people'.
In my opinion, it is very important that we do not MIS-READ this chance. It hasn't completely TURNED just yet. Whether President Obama becomes another Carter, or even just a Clinton (ie, a constructive contrarian blip), or whether he can become transformative in the historical sense of FDR or Reagan, is still up in the air. I think the latter has a reasonable chance to happen, if he (and we) keep in mind that many more people live in the valley than on the peaks. He has to convince THEM, in ways they can understand and support- we already HAVE the college professors, and they aren't enough by themselves.
I couldn't disagree more. I've worked in Democratic grass roots politics for years, and so has Obama as a community organizer. We do go door to door and talk about issues. We organize communities and try to encourage people to vote. I don't know where you are, but I have done inner city grassroots (community) organizing, and we Democrats are good at it.
The problem is that the Democratic grassroots doesn't listen the intellectuals and repeat their talking points, but we listen the people and represent their issues; the Republicans don't do that. So I would argue that Democrats are much better at grassroots community organizing that Republicans are.
Your post devalues the work for many dedicated hard working progressives by claiming their work is less meaningful than that of their Republican counterparts. Obama isn't America's only community organizer, and his success doesn't make all other community organizers work less valuable, nor did our inability to stop Bush. It's not the left that has a problem with grassroots organizing, it's bloggers who haven't involved themselves in grassroots and don't understand it's value, who are the problem.
If you believe the left has been ineffective at grassroots organizing, then get out there and work on the problem; posting blogs will soon feel like play. Yes we can solve this "problem" one person at a time.
November 27, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't mean in any way to criticize anyone's effort. If you have been one of those 'in the trenches' so to speak, than you deserve all due credit for that. It is entirely possible that your dilligence from the 'wilderness' in the HARD times preserved enough viabilty for Democrats that we were in position to take advantage of better opportunities when they developed.
I think my fundamental point is more about MESSAGE than it is about TACTICS. We've managed in this last election to score a large, clear victory across the board. No Democrat has done this since...when? LBJ in 1964?
We got here at least in large part because GW Bush completely lost the 'middle'. Even many of those who don't like abortion, do like low taxes, want to be strict on crime, want to aggressively protect the country against external terrorist threats, think a man should marry a woman, and generally tend to follow pretty close to the standard GOP party line of lo these many years, finally said "NO!"
Out task now (in my opinion) is to use our new-minted authority to build a lasting bridge to these people as best we can - with sound,sensible policies that solve real problems, and help ordinary people in their everyday lives. If we DON'T do that, and instead veer too far and too soon into the deep left-wing attic of the party's wish -list, we stand every chance of ending-up right back where we started.
November 27, 2008 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that passing policies which actually help people should be our goal. Let's start with healthcare, and extending unemployment insurance.
November 27, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink