Democrats Do Poland (Again)

That’s certainly part of the drill, and there are three things you have to do to win in that environment. First, establish message discipline. Know what you want to say, know why, per your strategy, and say it, and only it, all day, perhaps all day every day. This is where the lipstick comment and most everything else that is coming out of Obama’s mouth these days is astonishing. Did anyone not figure that maybe talking about putting lipstick on a pig would be incredibly stupid, and be used in television ads to alienate women voters?!?! The second thing you do – and I can’t say that Democrats have ever tried any of these three, let alone all of them – is never relent when your carefully chosen message is attacked. Indeed, you should have gamed this out in advance, so that when that predicted and predictable attack comes, you’re prepared to double down, and fire back. Hard. Each time you yield ground, especially on your own turf, you yield credibility and you yield votes. Finally, for crissakes, here’s a concept: Go on offense!! McCain and Palin and Bush and the GOP are what the military would call ‘target-rich opportunities’. Go after these people and make them play defense.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to Joe What’s-His-Name, picked by Obama more than three weeks ago to be his running mate? Can anyone think of a single memorable line he’s uttered since then? Has anyone even seen this guy? Is he back in Delaware shoring up the campaign for his simultaneously-ballot-listed Senate seat, or what? Pretty much the one thing I liked about the Biden pick was the promise that Joe would go out there and take a few bites out of the GOP. Excuse me, sir, but is it too late to get a refund?

Speaking of which, I’m one of many people right now who are contemplating donating money and time to the Obama campaign. Here’s where I stand. If this guy gets elected, I doubt he’ll do much, and certainly little that he isn’t forced into by the tides of history. Like Clinton, my guess is he’ll spend four or eight years making nice speeches and ineffectively fighting the vast right-wing conspiracy, which – as it did for Bill as well – will begin harassing him from day one and never, ever, let up. Additionally, whatever promise Obama once offered as a progressive he has now pretty much eviscerated on the campaign trail. So, let’s just say that enthusiasm isn’t much part of the equation any more.

In the end, he gets my vote because he is not Bush and not McCain, and because if historical circumstances are powerful enough he probably has it within him to be bold, and therefore great, and therefore also to smother the scourge of regressive politics in its own stinking pool of pus for a generation or so. That ain’t a ringing endorsement, let me tell you. And I, along with many others of the same ilk I’m sure, have no intention of once again (thank you Mr. Kerry, thank you Mr. Dukakis) investing a single dollar or a single hour in a campaign when the guy at the top won’t bark, won’t bite, and won’t fight. Especially in 2008. Dukakis at least had the excuse of the true patriot, believing that in the America he loved a good and competent person like himself could never be defeated by a sick bastard like Lee Atwater, let alone based on lies about the pledge of allegiance and the ACLU, or by using overt symbols of racism. But Mr. Obama – Senator Barackis Dukakis – that was FIVE elections ago, okay?

I am despondent this week, I must say, as I survey the wreckage of American democracy. It’s not that I care so much about Obama winning. Whatever tenuous enthusiasm I once had for him has waned to near nothing. It has much more to do with the fact that a public that is demonstrably sick of the status quo could yet once again be fooled by the same old practitioners of the dark arts, employing the same old insulting techniques, into willfully voting for another four years of precisely the same folks who’ve made them miserable. It’s truly astonishing. Can these people really not figure out the ruse being applied to them? Are they, at long last, actually incapable of being insulted?

I give in already, okay? Yes, yes, Santayana was right! Y’all no longer need to prove to me that those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I accept the premise. Point taken.

Couldn’t we move on to another lesson, by now? How about that little ditty on Munich?

You know, the one were those who try to play nice with fascist thugs become their breakfast just a few months later.

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