Let Me Begin by Making Clear that I'm a Democrat

Let me begin by making clear that I am a Democrat. While some may think my opinions are too moderate or not in step with the "progressive" nature of the party the bottom line is I will be voting for the same guy in November as others in my party--Barack Obama.

What bothers me lately though is how my party seems to brush off things like the recent Paris Hilton ads against Barack Obama by simply saying they are more of the Karl Rove style of smear politics, or that the ads are some how ineffective because they are not issue-oriented.

Folks, get with the program. The ads are effective. The ads resonate. And you know why, because they get right to the heart of the matter--people think we are party out of touch with the average American and that kills me. How in the world can that be? How can we let this go on and simply brush it off as something people will dismiss?

Here is the problem with my party. Somewhere in Ohio there is a father who wants his family to actually sit down at the dinner table and eat together. There is a mother in Iowa who wants to be careful about what her children view on the Internet. There are parents in Michigan who want to attend church as a family. And there are parents somewhere in Missouri who pray their daughter does not dress like Brittney Spears. And how do certain people in our party react to these people? They turn their noses up and mock them. They act like these people are out of touch with America. They say the ads are baseless and will not work. Well, guess what? It is not whether anybody is right or wrong about how people should lead their lives but rather whether we as a party start respecting the attacks made on us. And we better start doing it right now before we lose another election for the White House.

I am tired of hearing those in our party say we should not stoop to the level of the Republicans. Well, I for one live in a world of reality. You fight fire with fire. I want Barack Obama to win in November because I believe he will best serve the future of our country. Am I willing to do something illegal to accomplish this? No. But, am I willing to get in the gutter and fight with the republicans over issues such as family values? You bet I am.

I am simply not going to stand by and watch the Republicans try to turn Barack Obama's strength into a weakness. I am not going to let people in my party just talk and give speeches about not letting the Republicans "Swift Boat" our candidate. It is time we take the fight right to the doorsteps of the families in the middle of America. The kinds of towns where people don't worry about celebrity endorsements but rather just want somebody in the White House with whom they can relate.

Perhaps there is a reason why we as a party are doing better in campaigns at the Congressional and Senate level. We make those races about local issues, and do not cower from groups that might not always be in step with the diversity of our party. In these campaigns we seem more comfortable taking the issues straight to the people and don't run away from talking about family values. Take a look at the growing diversity of the Democratic caucus in the Senate and you see that somehow we must be doing something right. Maybe we are better at retail politics compared to wholesale politics. Maybe we better start running our presidential campaigns in the same manner.

I have been somewhat pleased to see Barack Obama appear in the homes of families in Missouri and Montana before his trip to Denver for the convention. To tell you the truth I think these types of things are more important that the Rick Warren town hall interview. I would have liked to see more interaction between the families and Senator Obama, but at least it is a start.

We had what I call a take home test and we blew it. Who in their right mind did not believe the republicans would attempt to turn one of Barack Obama's strengths into a weakness? It is right from their playbook. We knew it was coming and we were not ready for it. We let the republicans once again dictate the agenda of the campaign.

In 1992 when Bill Clinton was victorious everybody credited it to his making the campaign about the economy. I agree in part; however, I say Bill Clinton won in November because people also became comfortable with "Bubba" and in turn they trusted him when he said he could fix the economy. You may not like their style but the Clinton campaign played offense.

And, folks, if you are not playing offense you are playing defense. I want the ball back!

Comments

[closerthanuthink]

"We wonder why it is that blue-collar workers, who come from a heritage that is the Democratic Party, began to leave it. It's because we really don't respect them." Joe Biden said that some 20 years ago, when announcing his candidacy for president. In choosing him as running mate, Obama is saying the respect will be theirs and attention will be paid - remember Bidens' acceptance speach? How he repeatedly talked about the shuttered steel mills, the cops, the soldiers, the line workers and firefighters, the hard working, struggling families - that's just the beginning. See a pattern here? Respect for the white working class - long overdue!
I feel your pain, Mr. Krone, I really do. We're all pumped up, energized, and ready to take a flamethrower to the opposition if that's what it takes! We've had enough, and if the Rovian hoards think we're going to sit this one out, boy are they in for a surprise - shock and awe, v'08,cajun style!! But wait a minute: what about the "angry black man" factor, as RustyGranite so aptly put it? And "They say the ads are baseless and will not work."? Well if you presume they will or do resonate, aren't you falling squarely into the camp of those who "turn their noses up and mock them"? Those who believe that the smear tactics, the swiftboating of the last two campaigns resonated with the white working class and handed the republicans a free ride? Cont'd

[closerthanuthink]

cont'd. Those who believe that they'll gladly drink from the Kool Aid pitcher, not being smart enough to recognise the B.S for what it is, and thus that they're "out of touch with America"? Isn't believing that "Bubbafying" the candidate is the only way to connect with "these people" (your words!) a sign of the condescension with which you believe they're treated by us democrats?
Give the people more credit - respect is long overdue - and that starts with campaigning hard, with getting involved, door to door, eye to eye, registering voters, and no negativity - just hardball! You don't go after his wife, you go after his forgetfulness! You don't go after his age or his patriotism, you go after his temper, his pandering, his flip-flopping - all of which are on record, so you're not swiftboating, you're throwing a light on the facts the MSM insists on keeping hidden! You don´t go after him with a bazooka, you use a stiletto - and if that's not hand to hand combat I don't know what is! Trust me, it'll make the victory even more sweeter ... ice cold! And before I forget, to those who think Biden will have to attack Palin - you're just too scared to see clearly! She will self destruct, and no-one can convince me otherwise - and that's not being over confident, it's just a fact!

[CindyV]

Hillary was a fighter. Too bad she's not our nominee.

[Bartleby1701]

Will anybody PLEASE for the love of GOD tell Obama to hammer home that McKept non only voted numerous times NOT to raise minimum wage, but voted to GET RID OF IT. Look it up. If that ain't a way to tell people he ain't for us, I don't know what is. This should be so easy!

[iluvsam]

David, I've been saying these things for years. You are absolutely right. We are the party who loves humanity, but we know nothing about human behavior. I want negative ads out on both McCain and Palin immediately. I want them to run over and over and over again. I want their NEGATIVES to be KNOWN.

[NC2NJ]

The only way a bully will leave you alone is fight back.. I am so tired of those thugs kicking sand in my face and not fighting back. You wonder why no one has respect for democrats when it comes to defence.. we will not fight back. After John Kerry would not fight back I said I am done with the democrats. I decide to become an Independant..

[researcher]

click on the link below and you will see the direction america is going. capitalism demands that we go in that direction. we have now in place all 14 points.

http://www.ellensplace.net/fascism.html

we borrow from communists, socialists and kings and have taken every penny of social security to make our brand of capitalism work and instead of looking at the system we blame people ie politicans.

organizations do the same thing this is one reason america is in a rapid decline in wealth

but what did we do with our wealth when we had it?

created a mega military industrial complex to try and bully the world and steal their resources.

the world will be safer for our decline much safer

[concerned21]

Suggest anyone interested in understanding the 'why's behind the Christian Right/GOP phenomenon from a social-psychological point of view - that is, what makes the rank and file and their leaders tick - read Prof Robert Altemeyer's book, "The Authoritarians". A soft copy is available free on his website (http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/).

[Wedran]

I completely agree. This is not about polite debate and I hope to hell Barack Obama gets it. It is going to be another street fight and if we don't show up in leather and armed to the teeth we could lose again.

[willynel]

There are ways of attacking that cannot be deemed as personal. I think that David Krone is right.

The Reps keep saying that they are just like the rest of us and that just isn't true.

McCain's mother is an oil heiress. He hasn't been living check to check like the rest of us since he was born. He is the son of an admiral and the grandson of an admiral. Though they may not have been millionaires, they get treated like royalty. Besides, being an oil heiress pretty much means that you are rich.

McCain has not worked a real job in his life, ever. Why the Democratic Party is not attacking this I have no idea.

Gov. Palin has appeared on the cover of Vogue. She owns three houses and wears fur. This says middle class to you?

I do have hope because the only poll that shows Obama down is Zogby's. They had Obama down by 5 before his speech, now it's essentially tied.

The CNN poll has him at 49%. Last week, he was at 47%. We can easily win this thing.

As Bill Parcells like to say "make them quit".

[texanna]

If only the Obama campaign were as savvy about general elections as they were about primaries. it's almost as if they studied really hard on how to get the nomination, but forgot that there was something else to do after they got it. They had no trouble at all smearing the Clintons without getting themselves dirty - where has that ability gone? They had no trouble making a direct, visceral connection between their candidate and voters - where has that ability gone? They had no trouble getting immediate responses out to anything that was even slightly negative said about them - where has that ability gone? This election is not going to be won on the strength of Sen. Obama's speech-making abilities, unfortunately for us. It's going to be won with the same hardball politics they played during the primaries only scaled to a larger stage.

[iluvsam]

Because the Obama camp is allowing the Republicans to do what they do best...define candidates in THEIR terms. Who else could convince America that John Kerry, an ACTUAL war hero, was not patriotic, and that someone who actually went AWOL was a hero? They are attempting to spin Palin as MORE experienced than Obama; two people since Saturday have said those exact words to me. People repeat everything they hear without researching for themselves. People are sheeple. They're pack animals. Most need to be told what to think. That's where Fox News and Rush come in. Sorry, it's true. The Obama camp needs to step up and REFUSE to be defined as inexperienced (as John McCain has as much experience as Obama when it comes to administrative experience --#1 on ticket is the same as #1 on ticket). Plus, the DEMS need to define Palin for America. Do not let the Reps pull the wool over America's eyes. My guess is though, the Dems will play all nice and fuzzy and let the Reps roll all over them when they should attack and attack hard.

[jmpurser]

Mr. Krone, I have no idea if you are a democrat or not. Some things I'm certain of however is you're not a keen observer of this nation nor are you an accurate reporter or fair commentator on it. I have no idea who "certain people" in the democratic party you rail against are and I strongly suspect you've never met them either. In my experience they are GOP strawmen with no substance in reality at all.

They are as much a fantasy as the "progressive nature" of the democratic party.

[PghMike]

If you want to win this election, you have to attack. He has to run relentless ads pointing out that:

...McCain can't remember how many houses he owns.

...McCain is planning on destroying the existing health insurance system by getting rid of tax deductions for group health insurance premiums (this should be on 24x7 --this is a very radical proposition)

... McCain wants to bankrupt the middle class by running up huge deficits in our name, while Obama wants to give the middle class a tax cut, paid for by making the tax code more equitable.

... Obama chose Biden, a serious candidate for VP, while McCain put the country last and chose Palin simply to pander to the religious right -- no one believes she's the best candidate he could find.

... Obama should also run an ad showing how incomes change with Republican and Democratic presidents -- in every quintile, people do better (even the wealthiest 5%) when Democrats are in power.
We need to define McCain as the political hack he is.

I'd give Obama a B-/C+ grade on his ads so far. He's better than Kerry, but these guys don't play nice, and our ads are marginal at best.

Look, I'm only a computer nerd, but I could do a better job defining McCain than Obama's team. Obama has the money -- it is time to reach up and snap this one off :-)

[Wilbur]

Best article I've read here in a long time....maybe ever!

Wilbur

[SgtLucifer]

"But, am I willing to get in the gutter and fight with the republicans over issues such as family values? You bet I am. "

Right on Dave ! I am with you. Democrats need to begin fighting on a national level same way they fight at the local level. Fight dirty, pure and simple.

[confuseddemocrat]

I agree with you. The republicans know they can't win on the issues. Therefore they do not have any incentives to shun dirty politics and "play by Obama's rule". Republicans would be playing to their disadvantage.

Democrats seem to be afraid of hand to hand combat. It sends a subliminal message to the country: If democrats won't fight to defend themselves then why will they fight to defend us? Right or wrong republicans fight like their lives depend on it.

This is why we get beat on the "defense issues and patriotism" every election cycle. Every election it comes down to four issues: economy, defense, patriotism and moral values. Why can't democrats build cogent policies around these repetitive themes?