The Moderate Democrat - Can They Rebuild Him?

Scouring the press and the blogoshpere for lefty Monday Morning quarterbacking, I am thrilled to see that the left is misdiagnosing their problems and learning the wrong lessons. When the Republicans lost their majority in 2006 and were banished to the wilderness in 2008 there was a bit of a tug of war between interpretations. There was the "Bush killed us" school of thought competing against the "We got corrupted, we went native (in DC)" school of thought. While there was some truth to the former, the latter was the real reason and the proper conclusion of any introspection and the side that Republicans ultimately came down on (so far). Thus began the process of rebuilding what can be dubbed "the Real Republican." But the "Bush killed us" justification was clearly the easier route to take and probably would have won the day causing them years of focusing on the wrong problem making this week's win highly unlikely. How did Republicans avoid this pitfall and self-diagnose correctly? Answer: the party faithful beat them over the head and linked with other swaths of society to send the message. Trust me, the Republicans weren't smart enough to get it right on their own, but years of people sending back fundraising mailers with "STOP SPENDING!!!!" in thick black magic marker, the "not one more dime" movement, the Porkbusters movement, the Club for Growth, and ultimately the Tea Party movement, finally seemed to do the trick. People concerned about the direction of the Republican Party chose to reform it from within, to forcibly yank it back from oblivion. Republican faithful told their leaders, "it is most definitely is the policies - medicaid expansion, TSA creation, earmarks, spending, Harriet Myers, the Bush/Pelosi stimulus, and TARP. It took alot of effort, but the Republicans have pulled out of the nose dive in just four years.

Now, granted I am not in on the progressive scene, but I see none of this happening on the left. There doesn't appear to be any tug of war, there is only one theme - voters are dumb and Obama didn't communicate his awesomeness properly. Nobody is saying, "we ought to rethink our policy agenda." And I am thrilled to see it. This guarantees years of wasted time and futile efforts. Obama can redouble his communication efforts all he wants and it won't do a lick of good, it might even add to the damage that the Democrats have suffered. There is no demand for what he and the Pelosicrats are selling and what they stand for. The sooner they realize this, the sooner they'll be competitive again. Don't hold your breath, the Blue Dogs have been wiped out and the Democrat caucus is as far left as ever. The Moderate Democrat will have to be built up again from scratch, marketed and sold along totally different lines. That will take time, but first it must take desire.