It’s no secret that with yesterdays election debacle the DNC is going to have to do some soul-searching to discover just how and why they lost. Step two will be reinvention as they attempt to adjust the party paradigms to more broadly fit the social scope of our nation in hopes of greater appeal and just maybe a shot at the White House in ‘08. I’ve been thinking on this a bit and I’d like to share my thoughts with you… Hopefully you’ll have some to share back.
Coming into yesterdays election the DNC, the media and even such groups as MoveOn had fairly good confidence that voter turnout would be higher than usual in this election. Indeed, the turnout for the election was the greatest since 1968. Their confidence in victory sprang from the thought that that new turnout would lean havily towards Kerry when in fact they most certainly did not.
Listening to Senator Chuck Schumer talk about how the Democrats “missed” so many voters in terms of message and delivery was just about as sad a moment for me as I’ve had in recent memory. The decision by the DNC to begin reviewing its message can only mean they are contemplating a paradigm shift away from their current stance and a little further towards the Republicans in a gambit to woo away possible fringe supporters. Think about that. The party that “wants people to think” is considering a shift towards the party that “wants people to fear” and that’s about as sad as it gets, people.
The NYTimes has an article about how people in Ohio voted primarily on character and not on issues. Despite their disapproval over the war in Iraq. Despite the job losses and the serious economic uncertainty. Despite the fact that the situation in the Middle East hasn’t only not gotten better it’s actually managed to get considerably worse. And despite the fact that the next time we ask other nations on this planet for a little help in doing something they’re as likely to give us the finger as they are to kick us in the nuts… People voted on character.
Did Democrats “miss” these voters? Did they fail in crafting their message and exacting their delivery to the masses? I really do not think so. I believe the DNC did an admirable job of conveying their stance on the issues. I believe they got their message across loud and clear. I believe that when a political party asks the people of this country to think it’s entirely possible they’re asking way too much and expecting far more than they should in return.
Southern Baptists don’t want to think; they want to pray. They don’t want to solve their financial problems; they want to pray. They certainly don’t want a President who uses words they have to look up in the county dictionary down at city hall… They’re too busy praying for that. Now I don’t mean to pick on the SB’s, theyre a convenient and visible scapegoat for my anger, but the concept remains the same for the entire bible-belt. These people voted on character. They voted for the guy who fakes being a farmer/rancher. They voted for the guy who took away more of their civil liberties in one day than had ever been taken away before. They voted for the guy who invaded a country on suspicious and possibly outright false merits. They voted for the guy who is about to drill in the Alaskan Preserve instead of investing in alternative fuel sources. They voted for him because of his character.
The DNC doesn’t need to recraft its message. The DNC doesn’t need to shift its paradigms in the hopes of making contact with a wider voter base. The DNC needs to start a campaign of seething, angry commercials scathing the population of the central United States for it’s ignorance, close-mindedness and blindness in the face of insurmoutable facts. Then they need to supply the rest of us with sturdy horse-whips so we can alternate between thrashing Bush-voters in frustration and engaging in long bouts of self-flagellation for the shame of living in a country that is so powerful yet so incredibly, utterly stupid.
God forgive us.
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