Democrats Look Better on Paper (by EJ Dionne for Truthdig)

[marmar]

Democrats Look Better on Paper


Posted on Jun 19, 2007
By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON—There’s the brand, and then there’s the product. At the moment, the Democratic brand is pretty good while the Republican brand is badly scarred. But when it comes to product, Democrats still have a lot of development work to do. As they toil away, Republicans will be working just as hard to soil the Democratic name.

It’s been clear for months that large majorities of Americans have given up on the Republicans. They’ve turned decisively against President Bush and, in principle, want him replaced in 2008 by a Democrat.

But there’s a major gap between the desired outcome and the will to bring it about. The electorate is more pro-Democratic in theory than in practice. And Democratic congressional leaders will have a hellish time changing that, given their narrow margins and President Bush’s possession of a veto pen.

Do not envy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid their supposed power. It would be easier to manage Bush’s former baseball team, the Texas Rangers (26 wins, 43 losses as of Tuesday morning). Expectations for the Rangers are a lot lower.

Expectations are part of the Democrats’ problem. Over the last month or so, congressional Democrats have hemorrhaged support from both ends of the electoral coalition that backed them last November. And both ends had high hopes.

Democrats won in 2006 because they mobilized their large and angry base in opposition to President Bush and the Iraq War—and because they won over moderates and independents. These voters were frustrated by Bush’s performance, unhappy with their economic circumstances, and angry at the corruption in the last Republican Congress.

Managing this coalition was never going to be easy, and it hasn’t been. Anti-war Democrats are upset that Congress can’t simply end American engagement in Iraq and want Democrats to push their power to the limit. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070619_democrats_look_better_on_paper/

[BeyondGeography]

1. Third party could definitely play a role next year

<Given how tarnished the Republican brand is, the GOP’s best strategy is to bring Democrats down with them into the murky depths of public disapproval. This might build support for a third-party candidate in 2008—which could help Republicans win by splitting the anti-Bush, anti-system vote. It’s still early, but not too early for Democrats to worry about this prospect and to brace themselves for some ugly politics for the rest of the year.>

[blueworld]

2. Same old sorry song

Instead of pursuing successes for the Democratic Party, I'd like to see them pursue successes for the American voters who put them in office. I personally, didn't expect them to end the Iraq war immediately, however I did think they would cause a public battle to embarrass & isolate the GOP while they attempted to get that done.

The president wants an immigration bill & his GOP clones want an immigration bill - was this a higher priority for voters than Iraq or health-care?

I respect Dionne & his work, and agree that the Dems just need to fine-tune their tactics.