NYT: Democrats to Use Election to Push Agenda in Congress

[fugop]

WASHINGTON — Blaming election setbacks on a drop in voter enthusiasm, Congressional Democrats said Wednesday that losses in governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey — and a striking House win in New York — should give new urgency to their legislative agenda, including a sweeping health care overhaul.

I really hope this is the lesson they take from the elections. Wouldn't that just KILL the pundits screaming how the Dems will now realize they need to move right/center right? This part was especially nice to read coming from a Virginian:

“Most of us ran on that,” said Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia and president of the party’s freshman class. “We must deliver. I need to give Democrats something to be excited about.”

PLEASE let that be the takeaway from Tuesday rather than the punditocracy's crappy talking points.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/us/politics/05cong.html?_r=1&ref=politics

[Richardo]

1. Isn't that the goddam point?

I realize it's not a given with the Democratic leadership, I hope they read the article.

[SoCalDem]

2. Unfortunately, too many of them are only thinking about THEIR next election

and who's going to give them campaign money..

It would have been so much easier if the health reform had been built-in as a jobs/stimulus feature...waaay back in Feb.. By now, some of the tweaks would have been made, and there would have been an actual plan to explain in August.

Those crackpot, angry people on tv every day for a month, surely added to the discomfort of many who voted Tuesday....even if they did not attend tea parties.. stuff like that is contagious..so many probably voted in anger..and many stayed home out of demoralization..

[jacksonian]

4. just a point

it's not always about giving THEM money in some crass "me, me, me" way, but avoiding well-financed opposition can be just as important.

Doesn't really change your point because you're right, but I'm just sayin' it isn't all greed.

[SoCalDem]

5. not greed..just self-preservation of their jobs

and since it takes so much money to run, they have to try to not piss off the ones with the fat wallets:evilgrin:

[jacksonian]

8. of course, but that's just politics, survival is all

it's the fat wallets who have too much say. The pols have to play the game on the ground.

[cap]

7. I hope that they are thinking about THEIR next election

and realize that they can't tap dance or BS their way through this session without delivering a meaningful benefit to people's lives.

They can't just do a few mods on a broken system and congratulate themselves. People are in pain and want to get out of pain. Smooth talk wont cut it.

[Orsino]

3. WHAT fucking "election setbacks"?

Nice spin.

Democrats won some, and lost some. So what?

[Clio the Leo]

6. If today is "stare into the whites of their eyes day...."

.... then perhaps tomorrow needs to be, "call a Blue Dog and politely reassure them that the overwhelming majority of Americans are in favor of health care reform."

[joeycola]

9. But moderate and conservative Democrats took a clear signal from Tuesday's voting, warning that

Both other views exist also....


Forum Name General Discussion: Presidential
Topic subject For parties, the soul-searching begins. 'Do people think we're tending to the things they care about
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8734124#8734124
8734124, For parties, the soul-searching begins. 'Do people think we're tending to the things they care about
Posted by joeycola on Thu Nov-05-09 02:03 PM


The question is valid.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110404833.html?hpid=topnews


For parties, the soul-searching begins
'Do people think we're tending to the things they care about?'

By Michael D. Shear and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Democrats on Capitol Hill began a nervous debate Wednesday about the course President Obama has set for their party, with some questioning whether they should emphasize job creation over some of the more ambitious items on the president's agenda.

The conversations came as White House officials insisted that the party's gubernatorial defeats in Virginia and New Jersey had few implications for Obama's standing or for Democratic prospects in the 2010 midterm elections.

But moderate and conservative Democrats took a clear signal from Tuesday's voting, warning that the results prove that independent voters are wary of Obama's far-reaching proposals and mounting spending, as well as the growing federal debt. Liberal lawmakers, meanwhile, said the party's shortcoming came in moving too slowly on health-care reform and other items that would satisfy a base becoming disenchanted with the failure to deliver rapid change in government.

Voters in both states cited the economy as by far their top concern, and many lawmakers said the outcomes were a blunt wake-up call to put the issue front and center.

"The question is, do people think we're tending to the things they care about?" said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) as he left a meeting of Senate leaders. He said there was palpable concern among his colleagues Wednesday that the main agenda items Democrats are pursuing -- health care and climate change -- resonate very little with voters focused on finding or keeping jobs.



.................

But there were clear signs that the landscape has changed for Democrats in the past year. Independents, who were crucial to Obama's election, swung dramatically to Republicans in both Virginia and New Jersey. If that pattern holds a year from now, Democratic lawmakers in swing districts could find themselves losing reelection battles.

The results left lawmakers less sanguine than the president's ever-confident advisers. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D) said the results in his state and elsewhere have "somewhat of a chilling effect, potentially, on the agenda."

Connolly, who provided a detailed briefing on the results Wednesday morning to the 35 freshmen House Democrats, focused on what he called a "depressed Democratic base." Voters in the Old Dominion who had sided with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) last November showed up in greater numbers Tuesday than those who voted for Obama last year, Connolly said he stressed to his colleagues.

"I concluded from last night, we've got to pass health care," Connolly said, adding that his message is: "Make sure I give Democrats something to be excited about."

Steve Elmendorf, a veteran Democratic strategist who was a top congressional aide when Democrats were chased from control of the House in a 1994 GOP landslide, said Wednesday that lawmakers are far less complacent today than they were 15 years ago.

"They need to pay attention to it," Elmendorf said. "Voters spoke, and I think the message they sent was they care about the economy and they care about jobs. ....................

Elmendorf said it was a "big deal" that the Democratic gubernatorial candidates lost independents, who he said were "a key to Obama's victory. They are a key to the Democrats' strength as a party."

Calls for more action

But many of the party's leading progressives echoed the idea that the elections showed the only way to build toward victory is to aggressively push the agenda items envisioned in January. ...........

"It's a matter of tangibles being delivered," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "Victory breeds victory."