Whigs, Dodos, The Democratic Party?: The Last Chance

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There is a wonderful new post today from Jim Schumacher and Debbie Bookchin, "Hillary and Race Relations: GOP Tactics That Threaten the Democratic Party." They chronicle the low points of the current campaign and issue this warning:

"Hillary is betting that if she becomes the superdelegate nominee, blacks and liberals will have 'no place else to go' and will fall into line. But if Hillary's race-card politics make them feel sufficiently disenfranchised, these Obama supporters may abjure Hillary and sit out the general election altogether. Worse still for Democrats, they may see the party as no longer relevant: a moribund party hijacked by the Clintons' ambition, one that lacks the vision so desperately needed to revive our democracy, a party better left behind and replaced with one built on a new politics of unity and hope."

I urge you to read the full post. It is very strong and clear. Nevertheless, as strong as it is, I think the authors underestimate the peril in which the Democratic Party now finds itself.

Many of us lifelong Democrats have already lost almost all faith in our party because of the abject failure of its leaders. As the Opposition Party, they have provided almost no opposition to the worst president in history, a man with a 28% favorable rating who has led his own party and his country to every sort of embarrassment and disaster. They not only snatched resounding defeat from victory by taking impeachment off the table, but they have seemed even more frantic than Republicans to keep themselves from discovering any smoking guns in any of the Bush administration scandals, including war crimes and serial subversions of the Constitution, that would make impeachment and removal from office both quick and certain.

Why? Why haven't they impeached this failed president, whose high crimes and misdemeanors seem so apparent to most Americans and all the rest of the world, who blithely contemplates new ones every day, and ability to commit them is unimpaired? (Nancy Pelosi will be, for me, as accountable for the bombing of Iran as Bush and Cheney are.) The eternally shameful reason to take and keep impeachment off the table is that impeachment might risk what our Democratic leaders believe to be their otherwise certain progression as they shoulder their Republican Tweedledees aside in November and take their places at the big Washington trough. Michael Mukasey proclaimed that the president has the authority to ignore any law he chooses, and despite this bold assertion of the enabling principle of fascism, Mukasey was confirmed as this nation's attorney general, with my party, the Democrats, in the majority. When Senators Schumer and Feinstein voted to send Mukasey's nomination to the Senate floor, they were voting to send me and people like me to another party. They weren't any more worried about that than the Clinton campaign is now worried about the ultimate vote of blacks and liberals. They thought we would fall in line, sooner or later, because we had to, because we have no place else to go.

I think, and hope, they are wrong. We are hanging around so we can, perhaps, vote Democratic one more time -- for Barack Obama. If we don't get that choice, or if the centrist collusion of the leaders and the depredations of the Clintons and their surrogates help achieve a Republican victory in November that should have been unimaginable, we will be gone, and their opportunities to slobber at the trough will be greatly and permanently reduced. We'll still support and vote for progressives, of course, if they are running on Democratic lines, but I believe and hope we will also be able to support and vote for the candidates of a new Progressive Party. It will take us a long time to elect a progressive president, time the nation and the planet probably don't have: but Tweedledum Democrats are not, for us, an acceptable alternative. We know -- and with Clinton's nomination or McCain's victory it should be obvious to all -- that the collusive mediocrity of centrist Democrats is a greater enemy of the Good, because it will stand in the way of Good forever, than even the Republican Bad.

Comments

[Fez]

To paraphrase (groan) Ronal Reagan: I didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left me. So many people share that sentiment that this is the watershed moment when those of us who have held our noses and voted for the lesser of two evils will abandon the Democratic Party forever and search for greener pastures... maybe the Green Party, maybe a new Progressive Party... but a political party that actually represents the views and beliefs of its members. It's well past time to transform our government into a parliamentary system with many political parties and proportional representation. Only then will our government reflect the American people: diverse, multi-faceted, and all over the map.

[paixa3]

I think the Democratic party is on the edge of extinction....as an independent, who wasted my last vote, I hope so.

.....I wish triple for the Republicants though.

[mommadona]

BRAVO.

You echo my sentiments - especially after my less than glowing experience as a volunteer at the California State Democratic Convention.

I thought I'd give it one more try - I've been registered Democratic in order to vote in the general elections.

I'm an Independent in word and deed.

Well, it was the proverbial straw - DLC embedded management style of 'Business as Usual'

[austinobserver]

Good post. And as some have mentioned, Pelosi is almost as toxic to progressives as Clinton is. How come Pelosi is so upset about Chinese abuses and seems completely oblivious to abuses by her own government? While she complains vehemently about the Chinese murdering a few hundred, she looks the other way while her own government murders hundreds of thousands. She is obsessed with her new bff Dalai Lama and totally ignores what she should be focused on -- the Bush/Cheney cabal's determination to destroy our country and trash our constitution.

[Gma11]

"Many of us lifelong Democrats have already lost almost all faith in our party because of the abject failure of its leaders. As the Opposition Party, they have provided almost no opposition to the worst president in history . . . "

I switched from lifelong Democrat to Independent during Bill Clinton's presidency. I've continued to vote almost entirely Democratic (with a few Greens and an occasional Republican thrown in!). I'm so sick and tired of going to the polls and voting against the candidate I dislike the most!! I want a chance to vote FOR a presidential candidate.

[Mesaywar]

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again for saying it, Mr. Dwyer.

[CoachDWhip]

This race should already be over. It will be a sad, sad statement about the mentality of the voters in Pennsylvania should they may still give a majority of their vote to Senator Clinton.

What is really sad is the amount of racism that still exists in this country, as witnessed by the older white vote remaining strong in favor of Hillary Clinton, no matter how disengenious her actions prove to be.

C'mon Pennsylvania...Vote Obama and give this country a chance!

[pooka]

We're trying! There are tons of volunteers--lots of young people, middle-aged women who are NOT Hillary supporters, veterans young and old, people from all walks of life, lifelong Republicans who have had it up-to-here, you name 'em, we got 'em. We're working hard and having fun and the response has been amazing! People are walking into our offices asking how they can help. Chin up! It just might happen for Obama in Pennsylvania!

[S1m0n]

I agree. The democratic party is fighting over its soul, and fighting for its future. The saving grace, for me, has been the delightful discovery that FAR more people in and out of the party see the cpntest the way I do: as a pivotal conflict, one which will shape, perhaps, the next 25 or so years of US politics.

I'm surprised, gratified--even delighted--to discover that so many americans ALSO feel this way, and are acting upon their belief, and fighting to win their nation back from its betrayers.

Frankly, after the disgusting and craven capitulation of the Bush/Iraq years, in which our leaders failed us as much as we failed outrselves, I wasn't sure we had it in us.

[wolfi101]

I'm an Independent, who really does not care about political parties. ( I don't really like them actually. )

What I can say as an outside observer of both is that both parties are in very tenuous situations. McCain is not the "true Republican" and is trying to ride on the coattails of Bush. (A dubious judgment call at best). And Hillary's attempt to steal this election through breaking rules and lying has utterly sickened many people.

If the Dems nominate Obama, you (Dems) have a real chance of bolstering your party's position beyond belief. If you nominate Hillary, I suspect, we end up with a whole generation of youth (and others like me) turned off by the Democratic Party and the election process in general. If not outright sending them into the wings of the Republicans.

People are excited about Obama. He has engage in the most civil politics (defending his opponents' at various times) and yet the Dem. leadership still views both of their candidates as equal. The fact, that the leaders would prefer to let the party tear itself apart, rather than take a stand --- even to support its own rules --- does not bold well for image of the party.

[olephart]

I receive requests for continued funding of the Democratic Party. I return these with a reminder that I did indeed support them; I sent good money to them and their candidates in a Patriotic effort to stop the continuing War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace and Crimes Against Humanity. These crimes were set forth in detail by the Nuremberg Principles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Principles

I then direct my attention to Nancy Pelosi and list in detail the shortcomings she has presided over. It isn't much but it is what I can do to insure that the present Democratic Party will not have my support.

Although not an Obama supporter, I would choose him as the lesser of evils. In Hillary's case, I would write in Ron Paul.

[granamica]

If Hillary snatches the election, she will do so with the DNC. I will vote Nader and gleefully watch the implosion of the party. Sometimes the foundation is so bad, there is no amount of reconstruction and you must tear the building down. Bring it on Hilary. At the end of 07 I still was mightily mad at Nader and thought you were okay. My how times have changed. Embrace the revolution.

[ClareP]

Thank you for wiring this- these are things that have needed to be said for a very ong time, and aren't being said frequently and loudly enough (something I have never understood). Too many in the Democratic party have lacked backbone or been actively complicit in the crimes and devastation of democracy that has been the Bush administration. Why? Fear? A misplaced sense of political expediency? cynicism/ corruption? I don;t know, but it's long past time for people to stand up and insist on something better from our so-called leaders. If a new progressive party is what it takes (and it might be), then so be it. This election will be telling.

[bobsmith]

Mr. Dwyer, you nailed it.

[syllepsis]

This post is a great summary of why the Democrats are not entitled to our votes anymore (and I am a lifelong Democrat). They have been the abject failure Mr. Dwyer describes them as being, and they fail to understand our disgust when, say, Rep. Conyers is pressed to explain why he opposes impeachment : That he couldn't bear to see the Dems' electoral chances imperilled in November. The triumph of Party over Principle is complete. Our Democratic party has no shame. We should have no regrets if it goes the way of the dodo.

[moramc]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You...Moral Courage has been the demonstrably missing from the Democratic Party during the entirety of this administration's tenure. I hope that Obama is our next president. However if he is not the party leaders are going to receive my resignation as a devoted member of the party for exactly the reasons you state so eloquently in this post. Political expedience is and has been the predominant driving force behind the party's decisions for far too long. I will not become politically inactive for I actually believe in the ideals I was taught in my early history classes. However; I fear it is going to take a dramatic alteration in the status quo and standard operating procedures of this nation in order for the country to move forward even minutely. Our mainstream media have been totally co-opted by the rush for high ratings and the quick sound bite; as well as the most trivial aspect of all issues presented. The concerns of the populace is undermined each and every step of the way. It seems all that is truly prevalent is noise.

[moramc]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You...Moral Courage has been the demonstrably missing from the Democratic Party during the entirety of this administration's tenure. I hope that Obama is our next president. However if he is not, the party leaders are going to receive my resignation as a devoted member of the party for exactly the reasons you state so eloquently in this post. The gutting of the constitution barely seems to have created a ripple in the political ocean that our congess sails in. Political expedience is and has been the predominant driving force behind the party's decisions for far too long. I will not become politically inactive for I actually believe in the ideals I was taught in my early history classes. However; I fear it is going to take a dramatic alteration in the status quo and standard operating procedures of this nation in order for the country to move forward even minutely. Our mainstream media have been totally co-opted by the rush for high ratings and the quick sound bite; as well as devoted to the most trivial aspect of all issues presented. The concerns of the populace is undermined each and every step of the way. It seems all that is truly prevalent is noise. The noise I suspect is to distract the citizenry from the quest for power and money. Moral Courage is what is desperately needed and obviously lacking. Again; Thank You.

[desmirl]

If Hillary hijacks the nomination through chicanery and falsehoods, I will complete my painful separation from the Democrat Party. I have already stopped contributing when party reps call, reminding them that the pledge of '06, STOPPING THE WAR, hasn't even been attempted--even though the Democrats have a strong majority in the House and could, if necessary, shut down the Senate. Instead, insider Democrats just slither along, enabling George Bush in his insane war, foreign policy, and domestic policy. But, if Hillary steals the nomination, I will change my registration and actively work AGAINST the Democrats. I know that I am just one voice--but how many million Democrats are just as fed up as I, but less willing to reply to a blog?

[FWerke]

I agree with so many of you thoughtful people. I've thought, "Well, even if she steals the nomination, it's important to keep the Supreme Court from turning even further to the right, so I'll be forced to vote for her."

But, on the other hand, the two dominant political parties should be held accountable for not heeding the will of their members.

So, if it's a choice between Clinton and McCain, I will leave the Democratic Party, to which I belonged for 40 years, register as independent, and will vote for Clinton only if Obama's the VP candidate on the ticket.

The Constitution wisely did not recommend political parties as the best method to achieve representative government by the People.

Political parties seem to be mostly about power grabbing and power holding-on.

[PiratePrentiss]

Yes, we need a progressive party. We need to change. This is NOT WORKING, and it is obvious to most people

[jmpurser]

On the one hand it was so obvious it shouldn't need to be said. On the other hand the emperor really is naked and no one seems to notice!

Personally I think the Democrats have been nothing more (or less) than GOP Lite for decades now. I wish this weren't so but there it is. Yes, I have "somewhere else to go". I can go home and not vote. Not a good option but if no one is running worth voting for then voting itself is meaningless. IMHO it's been about 30 years since the Democratic candidate for president really mattered. "Who cares?" isn't much of a party standard.

[nancytheragingliberal]

Sad, but true and thanks for a terrific post. The dems will lose, for sure, then be cast back in their cages for another 20-30 years. The repubs should be assigned to the same fate, but alas, they are wonderful at playing down and dirty.....Bottom feeders and it has worked for years.

[chlllfactor]

Mr. Dwyer,
Thank you for the insightful post! I agree with paragrafH - AMEN!

[MPeter]

I whole-heartedly agree with you. I too, say AMEN. Democratic insiders and you Clintonites better heed the warning. This is the last time. You screw with this, it is all over for you. I would even urge Senator Obama to go independent. A lot of disgruntled Dems, Reps and independents will go with him. Open your eyes, do not fall for the Clintons and the dirty old insiders who seem oblivious to our needs. We mean business.

[missjabez]

Amen, amen! I have often said that if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, I am leaving the Democratic party. I wish I could be noble enough to say that I would vote for her if she gets the nomination, but sorry, I just can't do it. If Obama is smeared in the general election with swiftboat Repub smears, or if Hillary steals the nomination from him, I think a third party would be the way to go.

[olephart]

"I wish I could be noble enough to say that I would vote for her"

Your feelings and intuition are justified. There is nothing noble about voting for someone who is self serving, dishonest, cowardly and totally without morality. Hillary's only true character trait is unbounded personal ambition.

[dexxjones]

fantastic post.

[BillZBubb]

It was the Obama campaign that played the "race card", not the Clinton's. They took a general comment by Bill Clinton out of context and tried to paint the Clintons as racists. You are repeating the fabrication.

If the Obama campaign tries this same tactic in the general election against McCain, Obama will lose.

[wolfi101]

Apparently, the 90%-plus of blacks nationally do not agree with you. Before South Carolina, Hillary had decent support in that demographic. Afterwards, she has had negligible at best.

[memoryaid]

You don't seem to have an iota of sense over the racial sensibilities at the beginning of the race.

Before Iowa, most African-Americans were supporting Clinton and dismissing Obama because they didn't think a black candidate would be viable - they didn't think he'd have a chance to win.

Bill Clinton's comment before SC was specifically targeted to fan the flames of doubt over Obama - reminding the voters that other "black candidates" have won SC, but they lost the general. He was essentially discounting not only Obama's chances, but the progress the country has made since.

So no, it wasn't that Obama's campaign played the race card. Bill Clinton clearly did, but many of her supporters didn't really understand what he meant. The media and all of the African-American community saw it exactly for what it was.

It's like one white person calling another "whitey" - it's strange, it's the truth, it's not offensive. If a black person does it, it's still the truth, but it's not acceptable.

How would it have set if Michelle for example had said that a woman had won a particular primary before, but they didn't win. All women supporters of Sen. Clinton would have been rightfully offended.

So please look outside yourself and understand that not everything that's acceptable for you is actually a fine thing to say.

[TexasMom]

The way someone perceives Bill Clinton's statements in South Carolina seems to be one of those things that if the Dems want to stay together they will have to agree to disagree. It does however raise the question that if the majority of African Americans (Obama supporters or not) see those comments or others from the Clinton campaign as trying to take advantage of other's racist feelings (political advantage whether the speaker believes them or not) than those same AA people may have a little more credibility on what is seen as racist or not. It seems intuitively obvious that if you have been the victim of racism and therefore have some experience with it that you might have an "advantage" in recognizing the racism in statements or behavior.

I don't think anyone is saying that Bill Clinton is a racist. I think most people, especially at the time in the campaign that South Carolina happened, would hafve said that Bill Clinton was a very skilled savvy politician. His comments may well have been something he wanted to say to give his candidate a political advantage with some demographic. We'll all just have to make up our own minds on whether that political tactic is something we're okay with.

[paragrafH]

I can't believe I'm saying this; I can't believe it's come to this, but: AMEN!