Wasting Time Laughing at the Right?

I went out to see Will Durst, the liberal comedian and former Air America radio host, do his shtick in a Philadelphia comedy club last night. "The reason the Democrats were so hot to pass that stem cell research bill," Durst quipped, "is that they thought it was their best hope of growing a spine!" As a registered Dem, for me, it was a laugh-till-you-cry moment and I let out a chuckle. But I'd already heard some great political jokes earlier in the week.

On Monday, I went down to DC for the Take Back America 2007 conference (or, as it should be known, Leftypalooza). At the sessions I attended, all on seemingly serious topics, there were plenty of jokes. One speaker ran a video clip of himself heckling Ann Coulter about her questionable family values (she's had three broken engagements). Others took the usual potshots at President Bush (or as Durst brilliantly calls him, "Quagan," since he combines the worst qualities of Dan Quale and Ronald Reagan).

Of course, it's fun to laugh at the Republicans when they're flat on their back. And don't get me wrong, I find the fact that Jeff Skilling of Enron spent last night in jail as funny as the next liberal. But at the conference, it seemed time was being wasted laughing at the Right instead of doing the hard work of figuring out what a progressive platform would look like.

What if, instead of mocking Coulter for being a hypocrite, the Left thought up a real family values agenda -- policies to help people balance work and family like universal healthcare, national childcare, and mandatory paid vacation, as exist in most other wealthy democracies? What if, instead of cracking Enron jokes, we tried to figure out a constitutional way to fix the campaign finance system, so crooked companies like Enron can't turn more dolts like "Quagan" into presidents with their stolen cash?

The good news is the public has turned on the Republicans. But without a positive agenda, the Democrats have little hope of capitalizing on this shift. On some level, I'm happy the Left finally has a sense of humor. But why don't we leave the jokes to Will Durst and have the rest of us get to work building the Democrats a winning agenda -- and a spine.