Are we too focused on finding a savior or a fall guy?

[vi5]

I know this is probably going to get me flamed. So let me state from the outset that I totally support Ms. Sheehan, I totally supported Hacket, Wilson, Clarke, etc. and i totally wish every day for the fall of Rice, Rumsfeld, Rove, and many others in the admin. Please make no mistake about this.

But I can't help thinking based on this board and liberal blogs in general, that where we continue to falter, stumble and just generally get played by the right on so many seemingly slam dunk issues, is that we seem to put all our energy in one person, hoping that they will be the silver bullet that cures all our ills. Oh yeah, we pay tons of lip service to being able to pay attention to more than one issue at a time, and we also condemn the maninstream media for their narrow focus and inability to explore more than one issue. But a daily look at this board and liberal blogs in general seem to me to show that we do the same thing. Cindy Sheehan is one person doing what she believes to be right and noble. But now this board and many blogs have become almost all Cindy all the time. Just as a few weeks ago they were all Hacket all the time. Or previously all Joe Wilson all the time or all Richard Clarke all the time. We see someone doing a noble thing and doing their part to save this country and we then in turn put so much of our energy into supporting that person and investing all our political hopes and dreams into them.

Conversely every time a scandal touches someone in the Bush administration we become convinced that "this is it...the tide is turning...so and so is going down and he's taking them all with him". Remember 2 months ago it was all about Delay's scandal? Every other post was about Delay, Delay, Delay. How he was going down, how the repubs were going to be tainted by him. Then all of a sudden it was Rove..I just think all of this focus on individuals both as our saviors or fall guys for the other side, makes it too easy for the well oiled machine of the right to swat us down every time.

Now like I said, each and every one of these pieces is important and crucial to the future of the country. And yes, I know that the internet is not always indicative of the real world. But I just see this relentless focus on individual on both sides of this struggle and then I can't help but think how easily distracted we all seem to be by shiny objects. I know this doesn't include all people and all causes on the democratic liberal left. But just a quick scan of the board and blogs this morning left me with this feeling. Maybe it's wrong. Maybe I'm still jet lagged. Who knows. Please try not to insult or flame me. I'm just looking for a discussion on this.

[rfranklin]

1. Okay, what's the alternative?

Certainly, the organizing that Dr. Dean is overseeing is part of the long-term strategy to defeat the Republicans. But we should be using every other opportunity to reveal their vile, traitorous, greed-based attack on America's most cherished values and traditions.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

2. We don't seek out or create each of these

as they come along.

We also have a grassroots virtual army writing letters, being informed, making calls, organizing.

Hopefully it will all come together at some point.

[ClintonTyree]

3. It's the way we've been programmed by the MSM..........

sensationalist stories that have a flash in the pan effect. Don't forget, the average American has a very short attention span.
I've always said that the downfall of the bush administration will be one of a thousand cuts. All of these seemingly small chinks in the bush armor will eventually coalesce into one gaping hole. All of the pieces will fall into place eventually, so I'm not too concerned if we get side-tracked by the issue du jour.
It'll all come together in the end. Have I ever lied to you before? ;)

[CTyankee]

4. It's because we are out of power and facing

31/2 more years of it. Look at what the repubs were doing during the Clinton years: Vince Foster, travelgate (that Billy somebody), filegate, Gennifer Flowers, the illegitimate son, the so-called rape, Monica, and Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. They looked pretty desperate trying to pull down Bill. Unfortunately, they got more sympathetic treatment from the MSM than we get.

I truly think our heroes are great and you are right, we must have perspective. But each in his or her own way is leading up to our taking back our country, I truly believe. Gotta be positive!

[leveymg]

5. We're only human, and there is a natural need for heroes and villains

That's inherent in all communities, and it's hard to imagine that we could sustain a common identity without it. Some are able to stay focused on developing and carrying out longer-term strategies than others, but we all get caught up in the cause celebre d'jour.

It's okay. Take a nap, and things will seem much more bearable.:hi:

[H2O Man]

6. Interesting thought.

I think you raise an important point, though I will take the opposite position for sake of discussion. Would it have been an error for people to have put too much faith in Watergate some 31 years ago? It would seem not, using that good old 20-20 hindsight. The Plame scandal surely has the same potential to destabilize this administration. It would seem worthy of the invested interest.

Cindy Sheehan is my sister. She is your neighbor. Cindy went to school with everyone reading the news today. We all know Cindy. And all the horror and pain and immorality that the Bush policy in Iraq causes here -- in this country -- is found in her gentle, wounded facial features. And the strength to confront the beast is found in her brave actions. Is there any doubt that she would rather be elsewhere today? At home, talking to her son, that one who came to be through her, and who she raised? That's Cindy you and I see today, at the playground, watching the little 5-year old on the swing. And that is Cindy, in the grocery store with that cute kid acting impatient, because he wants to open the box of Captain Crunch for some cheap toy inside. And that's her driving that teen-ager to the summer league ball game. See the pride on her face, as she knows that this young man is turning out just fine.

Cindy represents something far greater than one person, though she is indeed a strong individual. But there are other energy forces at play when she confronts the evil of that war again today. And that's why she has earned our respect on DU, and it's why she is capturing the imagination of a country that really would prefer to look the other way.

[sendero]

7. You are talking..

.... about human nature here. People are interested in "news". the right has done a stellar job of manufacturing "news", say "mission accomplished" or "Saddam's statue topples" or "Jessica Lynch heroically rescued" or I could go on and on.

We tend to exploit news events also, but at least they are real on some level.

I don't think anyone thinks that any single event/person is the key to the future, but the drip, drip, drip factor is there and it is working IMHO.

[The2ndWheel]

8. Wild goose chase

We keep writing angry letters, they keep taking billions from us.

They'll never face a day in jail. They won't face a courtroom. They never do(well, can't say they never do, but they get nothing more than a slap on the wrist). This is America. That doesn't happen here. We're the "best" of a bad lot evidently.

I'm not saying that nobody should go after them. It's really the only thing worth doing. If nobody had to go to work, and could hold power accountable all day, maybe something could happen. Maybe someday that will happen. But until that happens, we're all just playing a game of "Duck, Duck, Goose".

[wli]

9. is the alternative believing the neocons & fundies are unstoppable?

They sure as hell seem like it. What the heck is Fitzgerald doing? When are indictments coming down? They didn't for DeLay, they haven't for Rove. No one even investigated who did 9/11. No one will even breathe a word of the vast and far beyond blatant election fraud. Why are we even expecting the other shoe to drop at all?

I guess it's hope beyond hope now.

[mrmonarch]

10. See first, then do

I think the basic problem is that most people don't appreciate the massiveness of the problem. There's a whole lot of wishful thinking involved when you hope that mosquito voices are going to have an impact on the elephant that is the lies we drown in daily. As you said, the only thing that can happen from such an approach is to be swatted down, each and every time.

So is it hopeless? No, but before you can Do you must See. I think these guys got it down pretty well:

We think that before we can engage in a truly creative act, we have to learn how to see the world as it really is, not as we wish it to be.

The Signs Team is not out to change the world, but this does not mean that we believe one should simply sit back and do nothing. Perhaps the act of seeing the terror of the situation is the first step towards Doing.

(The Signs Quick Guide)

Before you can have any hope of doing anything that will have any impact whatsoever it is first important to See, not only what goes on in the world at large, but also to confront your own beliefs and sacred cows (and seriously, we all have tons of them, myself included).

When all of the cows have been slaughtered you are, hopefully, left with a reasonably objective picture. Then, and only then, will it be possible to Do anything about it. But if all readers of DU can get to THAT point, it will have a massive impact on its own, and what to Do will come naturally.

Or so I think.

[JNelson6563]

11. You are exactly right

Few have any interest in the grunt work of party building.

A fine example of its importance is the Hackett race. Yes, it was exciting and everything but I can't help but think if Dems had actually worked that District it wouldn't have been considered a "victory" lose but put in a good showing.

We need to build our local memberships, have fundraisers (where money is raised, volunteers recruited, commaraderie established) and establish strong networks of support. If we want to regain power we need to quit focusing on the WH and dreaming of heroes and fall guys. We need to take back the county commissions, school boards and state level positions.

Many at DU do not find such grunt work appealing. I marvel that so few realize that having our person at the top of the power structure is utterly useless unless they have support underneath.

Julie

[Armstead]

12. "Blog Swarms"

Itsa term I've heard on the MSM to describe what happens when a particular story captures attention on the Internet to an extreme degree.

Part of the purpose is to put attention on a story felt to be important, in hopes of generating the momentum and action that will force the media to pay attention, and thus make a dent in the larger public consciousness -- and even perhaps lead to bigger change.

Dan Rather is no longer the Anchorman of CBS News. Why? He got Stung by a blogswarm from the right wing. Trent Lott is no longer Senate Majority Leader. Why? Blog Swarm again.

Hackett got a lot more attention and support than he would have otehrwise because he caught the imagination of Internet Liberals.

You do have a point that it can get too excessive and obsessive. We should be able to pay attention to more than one thing at once. But if people pecking at keyboards can actually counter the stranglehgold of the Mainstream Media and the Corporate/Political Complex, a little excess is not a bad price to pay.