The Value of Leadership (Feingold)

[cal04]

Leadership is not about testing the waters of public opinion and jumping on the bandwagon. Leadership is about putting forward and making the case for new ideas that help shape public opinion. In both political parties, there is a serious lack of leadership at the federal level. I mean, the political climate right now is such that someone like John McCain wins major praise for saying 'maybe torture isn't the greatest thing in the world, but if you insist you need to do it, go ahead.' That's not leadership. It's empty rhetoric.

As bloggers like the folks at Firedoglake and our own Matt Stoller have pointed out, on the Democratic side, Senator Russ Feingold has been leading. When the Republicans tried to pull their patented reverse-psychology jujitsu, the media bought into their spin, many of his Democratic colleagues flinched, and Feingold stood firm. Since then, the polling has shown that the nation has not yet decided where it stands on censure, and Feingold's continued to make his case. And the media has been backing away from the Republican assertion that the censure resolution is a net gain for them.

Take a look at the headline of the AP story Jonathan mentioned earlier -- "Feingold's Censure Call Gives Him Boost." I think this shows the real value of leadership. Censure may not have the support of the majority, but does that mean we shouldn't pursue it? Did the Civil Rights movement have the support of the majority? Should progressives therefore not have pushed a civil rights agenda? Of course not. As Feingold is quoted as saying in the article, Democrats basing their tactics on reaction to the opposition is simply a bad idea.

Feingold said his sole purpose was to hold Bush accountable, but he argued that it's also good politics. "These Democratic pundits are all scared of the Republican base getting energized, but they're willing to pay the price of not energizing the Democratic base," he said. "It's an overly defensive and meek approach to politics."

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[IndyOp]

1. Radical new marketing idea for the Democratic Party:

"The Democratic Party: The Party of Principles. We stand for American values and the laws of this land."

Too radical? :eyes:

[luckyleftyme2]

2. THE WAY TO BEAT THE REPUBLICANS

BUSH AND HIS FLUNKIES REALLY MESSED UP ON "KATRINA" -THIS IS THE WEAK UNDER BELLY TO ATTACK!
use their own words to defeat them. thats how they won in 2000.
here's an easy and sure way to defeat any republican incumbent: they say the total losses of
"katrina " in property was 12 billion dollars. bush and his "sheeple" offered 2 billion!
then he crammed thru 50 billion for "iraq"!
it took republican votes to do this. i for one (and i'm sure i am in the majority) would not vote for one republican that allowed this to happen. that is to send money to iraq and let our citizens
go with out.
i'm sure we have a few bright and eager young "democrats " to pursue this subject and make some
t.v sound bytes of the destruction that still is an eye sore to the world of how little we care for "human tragedy" at home.
check out the waste in what was spent.
go get them "BASTARDS" you young warriors. hit them where it hurts most; in the media!