Taking the Long View
Deep breaths, folks. Deep breaths.
During the campaign, we were a lot like this. It didn't matter that Obama was consistently walloping McCain in the polls, or that our most credible political analysts were predicting a landslide. It didn't matter. Everywhere you'd go, wherever Democrats were hanging out, they'd be working each other into a serious freak-out session.
"Oh my God, he picked Sarah Palin, it's over." Don't pretend you didn't say it.
"I know I know, it all looks good, but something is going to go wrong; something always goes wrong." You said that, too.
It's really one of our most endearing qualities. When anyone anywhere speculates for any period of time about some far-off possible doom for Democrats, we gather around, all of us, and collectively panic.
But, I promise you, fellow anxiety-driven friends, now is not the time to panic. Now is the time to start taking the long view.
The 24-hour news cycle, the minute-by-minute blogosphere, all of it gives the impression that any single day, any single minute, is critically important. You see a bad story one day and assume the game's over. Viewers watching MSNBC last week heard Contessa Brewer and Dylan Ratigan talking about whether or not the Republican party was poised to make a huge comeback in the 2010 midterms. The discussion centered around new polling that showed Congress at a staggeringly low 24 percent approval rating -- the lowest recording of the year.
If Democrats are this disliked, a Republican resurgence is inevitable, right? Right?
Of course, neither anchor mentioned that Congress pretty much always polls that low, that it was polling that low in 2008, when Democrats managed to win a second consecutive landslide. Or more importantly, that the way people feel about Congress in July 2009 is probably the least explanatory variable one can come up with for how people will vote for their representative in November 2010. I mean, really, you might as well use a Magic Eight Ball.
Still, watch a segment like that on a Thursday in July, and you're ready to start packing for Canada again. I know, I get it.
And maybe there's nothing I can say that will make you feel any better about all of this; maybe it's the plight of Democrats, prisoners of a self-loathing neuroses that's just so quintessentially left. But if you can take a step back, if you can stop obsessing over the short term, just for a minute or two, you'll see that the longer view is really a much better one.
Look at health care. What a mess, right? Except that, more or less, this is going according to plan. The roadblocks we've faced thus far were largely expected, as were the deals brokered. By the end of the year, it's very likely that we'll have a bill, and that it will be the most significant change to the health care system since Medicare.
And then there's the economy. I know, you hear Republicans talking about deficit spending, and calling this "Obama's economy," and you think, damn, that sounds pretty effective, we're probably screwed. But stop thinking about what the economy looks like today, for today, and start thinking about what it will mean for tomorrow.
The Dow is hanging out above 9,000 now. Great news. The GDP loss is shrinking, and most think the economy will start growing again. Even better. Allan Greenspan just said he was pretty sure we've seen the bottom. Tim Geithner said there is zero chance of financial collapse. USA Today reported that the surge in stimulus spending offset huge losses at the state and local level. Cash for clunkers was incredibly successful. Things are getting better, and they will continue to get better. Republicans knew that their only chance to beat Obama was for the economy to collapse and for Obama to be blamed. But guess what folks, all indicators say that just isn't going to happen.
I know it's tempting to draw conclusions from Obama's approval ratings on any given day or week, that the ebb and flow of positive and negative stories can cloud the view of what's happening. But step back for a second and take a deep breath. Things are going to be just fine.
Democrats will probably lose a few seats in the House, sure, but we'll probably net a few more in the Senate, and in both cases we'll continue to hold our majority. Plus, those seats we're likely to lose are Blue Dog Democrats from extremely conservative districts. And those guys have been driving you nuts anyway. So cheer up!
We've got a great shot at getting a health care bill. The economy is healing. The GOP is morphing into a party of the fringe.
This isn't a time for panic; it's a time for some seriously hopeful optimism. Just try taking the long view.
Follow Dylan Loewe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dylanloewe
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Two things I just don't get.
WE'RE the nice guys. (Yeah, and nice guys finish last, I know THAT.)
And THEY'RE the ones always thumping the bible (but when do they EVER show any of the compassion religion is supposed to teach)?
Oh, how I'd love to debate someone on the right! The media should, but all it does is hand the mike over--I've never seen so many "commentators" who are clearly not even listening to what their guests are saying.
I believe a conservative would claim that they show compassion outside of government, such as by given to charity and performing deeds on behalf of the community. I belief this belief is even borne out by the chartible giving statistics which show that conservatives give much more to charity that liberals.
(Picture me on therapist's couch) The thing that worries me is that there appears to be a significant percentage of the American public for whom logic and reason have no impact on their beliefs. This country is in a heckuva mess and all these people think about is losing their guns and becoming a "socialist country." They don't stop and think that Bush never did anything to fix health care, the economy, or getting us off foreign oil. They are easily manipulated by the only media they tune into - conservative outlets - which are heavily funded by Big Business interests.
We on the Left don't have comparable money to Big Business. We don't have will to disrupt town hall meetings or have commentators make news by saying outrageous things (except maybe K.O.) All it is going to take is for another terrorist attack or some other big disaster and this Prez is finished. I've seen conservative ideology win for most of the past 30 years, and it is hard for me to imagine a "real" change in this country. Am I focusing too much on the negative? I think I'm just being realistic ...
Compash Cat, while it makes me feel a little better (in one way) to hear someone voice what I, too, feel...did ya haf ta do that? Andrew just had me climbing back on the positive ladder and there you do, knocking me on my keester again.
The problem with the whole idea of republican resurgence is that the collapse of the republican party is ultimately due to the fact that their policies were tried and were an unmitigated disaster for most Americans.
And all they all they have to offer is more of the same.
Do none of you see what Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are trying to do to this country? Can none of you shake off the "tingle up the leg" syndrome and accept that these people are the most corrupt leaders we have had in recent years? Get a grip people, for your children's and grandchildren's sake!
right, and I'm sure you were this freaked out when Bush invaded Iraq and kept it off the books.
Thanks to your views on climate change, we won't have any grandchildren.
the hypocrisy is mind blowing
Climate change is natural. If you're really concerned with this myth, invade China and stop its development. Bush invaded Iraq with the approval of Congress. And you are safer for it. You owe him your thanks. Your uninformed silliness is frightening.
Yeah, they need to grow a spine and shove the Rethugs down where they belong. Get us out of Iraq and Afganistan, cut nuke spending, give us single payer health care-or at least extend medicare to 55 years and older.
Obama, Pelosi and Reid are in the pockets of the Republicrats who always stifle progressive change.
Thanks, I needed that after watching a replay of the thuggery of the past eight years today.
You have my applause, Mr Loewe.
This is not CRISIS time. It is not time to concede to the emotions of the story hungry media, foaming at the mouth conservatives or the party that lets RADIO PERSONALITIES RUN THEIR HOUSE.
Libs/Progressives got here through level headed reasoning, facts, reality and pragmatism.
I had a conversation with a tried and true GOP supporter the other day.
I remained CIVIL while he went through the ditto-head talking points, 1 by 1.
Muslim, non-American, commie, racist, socialist, skeletons in the closet...e
All of his jive refuted, crushed and rebutted.
In the end he could only say, "I just don't like the guy. I can't put my finger on it."
GOOD THING IS, the same bee-ess that lost them the election, the senate and America, is what their still using.
Good thing they have NEW MATERIAL, right? :-)
He couldn't use the one that really mattered to him, which was either "democrat," (anyone not a republican must be evil and hate america) or black...
The Republican party is accelerating off into the inter-galactically red-shifted reaches of the far right a lot faster than it's shrinking.
We only got 53%, and that was with an absolutely stellar candidate at the top of the ticket. It's not time to panic, but it's not time for complacency either.
Stellar? The least qualified candidate in American history? You jest. A stellar smooth talker, a moderately good campaigner, but a miserable failure at governing.
the velocity of change has increased exponentially and the pendulum swings faster than ever.
and yet the fact is the velocity of change has increased exponentially. the pendulum swings faster than ever and these are "big ticket" times. beware.
When ever you feel yourself wavering, (after all it has only been 8 months), don't wait to exhale just be very, very grateful that there isn't now a President McCain and a Vice President Palin!
By 2012 Obama's ludicrous policies will have led to hyperinflation and 15% unemployment. PRESIDENT Palin will fix all that.
I support Palin for the Republican ticket in 2012, it is the best way to give Obama a second term!
I needed this. Thanks.
Hey. We're not panicking because we are just being neurotic Dem's. We're feeling a little insecure because an issue that is publisized on both sides because thats the way a free enterprise Democracy is supposed to do things, is not the way this issue is being publisized. We are being pounded like an advertising campaign of a "b" grade movie that we all know isn't worth leaving the house to view at the movie house. You know how that works. They hit you wth an ad on the TV 14 times an hour, because they can't get people to go pay to see the movie. We are being pounded so much with only one side of the story, till it becomes subliminal. It's an example of the basic problems of our market place. Working people have no political power unless we stick together. And we have entirely too much monopoly in our market place, including the news media. If you don't feel a little neurotic, there is something wrong with you!
We are taking the long view. That is why we want single payer now, to save $350 billion a year, enough to insure all of the uninsured. http://www
"The most significant change to the health care system since Medicare"?
Yeah--and the Centrists' and Blue Dogs' proposed change change is to mandate Americans to pay graft to the private health insurance private cartel in order to get inadequate coverage, while failing to eliminate the biggest problem in the system--the $350 billion devoured every year by that cartel, which ought never to have come into existence.
No thanks, Obama, AHIP, Nelson and Baucus. We need HR 676, and will accept nothing else. We needed it when Truman proposed it, and the fact that we didn't get us brought us to this mess.
Any Democrat who opposes single payer will be challenged in the primaries.
I think the biggest threat to the Democrats in the next round of elections would be if Obama raises taxes on the middle class. Here is a quote from the LA Times (I first got wind of this story as it was a banner news headline on Yahoo):
"Both Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers had suggested during appearances on the Sunday morning news talk shows that tax increases could not be ruled out for Americans earning less than the threshold that the president has set."
Matter of fact if you actually heard the two speak they used almost the exact same wording which strongly suggests their coordinated discussion points were the latest "talking points" from the White House. In other words, the promise to not raise taxes on the middle class as defined by those making less than $250,000.0
Anyway, I just checked the news headlines again and I see the White House just issued a statement against raising taxes on the middle class refutting what Obama's advisors told the world on Sunday. Maybe a "trial ballon".
Look, I don't know if the rest of you are as fed up as I am with the obstruction and political game playing going on with this health care reform...b
If you agree, please sign the petition below, and forward it - any way you can - to anyone and everyone you know! Time to let them know how we feel!!!!
http://www
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