What Next for Democrats?

The first thing Democrats need to do is stop feeling sorry for themselves and stop issuing idiotic statements like the one they issued today that they cannot "mathematically" do anything. They still control the Presidency and have large majorities in the Congress. With a bozo who won the Presidency with a minority of votes and thin majorities in Congress, the Republicans in 2001-6 still aggressively pushed their agenda. "Mathematics" didn't stop the Republicans and there is no reason for the Democrats to act impotent and paralyzed now.

What could they do to turn momentum in their favor?

1. Pass the House's $154 billion job creation bill. Find more TARP money to add to the House bill. Talk about job creation every day.

2. Pass Obama's proposed bank tax. Talk every day about excessive bonuses, how the banking industry failed America and how Republican economics collapsed the economy and transformed a $250 billion federal surplus in 2000 into a $1.3 trillion deficit in 2008.

3. Order the Department of Justice to investigate the financial manipulations and inept regulation which led to the financial collapse for possible criminal violations. The conflicts-of-interest were rampant; surely, there must be criminal violations somewhere in this gigantic mess of profiteering and greed.

4. Publicize the hearings and findings of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and develop legislative proposals to rein in Wall Street and prevent their gambling with our money. Point fingers and assign blame and if some of the blame touches Clinton, Summers and Geithner, be honest about it. The public sees too little honesty from politicians. Use the findings to dump Summers and Geithner.

5. Make the federal foreclosure agency work to reform mortgages [it has been close to dysfunctional for nearly a year]. It is estimated that between 20-25% of all mortgages now exceed the value of the properties. There are tens of millions of homeowners who need help and most of them vote.

6. Pass the Consumer Protection Agency and blame every politician who opposes protecting consumers for being tools of banks. Get Elizabeth Warren on TV every day. Have her make the State of the Union speech. :)

7. Fire Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. Replace them with Joe Stiglitz and Elizabeth Warren. Withdraw Ben Bernanke's nomination for the Chair of the Federal Reserve and replace him with Paul Volcker.

8. Pass healthcare reform with a public option and the surtax on the wealthy and no excise tax through reconciliation. Bend the reconciliation rules as much as necessary and let the Republicans howl. There is no judicial review and the public doesn't give a shit about the nuances of Senate procedures, they just want to see action. Accuse the Republicans of being pawns of the insurance companies.

9. Announce that the Democratic Party will stop accepting donations from the banking and insurance industries and demand that the Republican Party do the same. They won't, of course, which would provide many opportunities to accuse the Republicans of being the party of the banks and insurance companies -- the message would be, "If you want to empower banks and insurance companies, vote Republican." Whatever money the Democrats give up by this gesture would be more than made up by a surge of small donations, a surge in integrity and a surge in credibility.

I'm sure I am missing many other good ideas, but this list would keep the Democrats busy for at least a few months.

 

Comments

[darter22]

10:15 PM on 01/25/2010

The Dems have become the lap dogs of the 41% majority. They don't have the backbone to heed your suggestion­s.

[tjkenn]

11:30 AM on 01/25/2010

Amen...

[Ramonne]

05:06 PM on 01/22/2010

Why aren't you in control of what they do. They certainly need a leader.
I hope some of them read this article and cut and paste it where they
will see it every day....
Why should we vote for those who can't do anything except stand around
and wring their hands over what they can't do...
the heck with senate tradition.­...just do it...anyth­ing...just do it.

[Peter Danbridge]

10:03 AM on 01/22/2010

Great ideas!

I have recently withdrawn from the Democratic Party because (a) when it comes to integrity and character, the party needs to get a set, and (b) I cannot be a member of a party complicit in my oppression­.

You'd think Tuesday would have woken up the Dems, but I have no confidence of them waking up anytime soon.

[Countess]

09:38 AM on 01/22/2010

The democrats are pathetic! They don't even care enough about the issues they talk about to fight for their beliefs. Nobody can respect these weaklings. It all starts with the president who has shown weakness and indifferen­ce during the entire debate on health care. The republican­s will eat them for breakfast.

[JBoy]

05:02 AM on 01/22/2010

If you can't pass legislatio­n with control of the presidency­, the congress, and the senate, you've got a problem. Obama has to move back toward the center and realize that the majority of Americans prefer less government­, not more.

[ericgregory]

03:21 PM on 01/25/2010

Ummmm... it sounds like you are saying that your opinion is that Obama is left of center (I am assuming this to be the case because most conservati­ves clamor for less government­)? That is a complete fallacy, Obama is no sort of leftist President, quite the opposite, a move to the center would involve more of a movement towards the left. Moreover, both of these characteri­zations are, at root, incorrect because, when comparing campagin finance to policy choices made, it can be seen that Obama is nothing about identifica­tion with a specifical­ly left or right policy agenda, but more about exactly what his corporate donors want. So all this hooforah about socialism is wrong-head­ed and results from being ill-inform­ed about what socialism actually is. The only manner in which it is remotely correct is that Obama is clearly a corporatis­t and is using a big government position for the furtheranc­e of the position of corporatio­ns, which some might call socialism for corporatio­ns only. The correct label for this situation is not socialism, but fascism.

K-12 schooling is socialism, police and fire department­s are socialism, roads are socialism, one person/one vote is socialism, all people are created equal is socialism. SOCIALism is everyone agreeing to chip in and work together for a livable and equitable SOCIETY

[triplettam]

06:42 PM on 01/21/2010

And let them actualy filibuster­. I'm tired of threats shutting everything down. Get some bunks and get busy! And Obama has got to stop trying to be Gandhi and start being our president. Remember, Gandhi was killed by one of his own. Obama is on the verge of losing a bunch of his own.

[Chris1962]

05:11 AM on 01/22/2010

He also has to stop blaming everything on Bush and start listening to the American people.

[coolhand]

02:34 PM on 01/21/2010

Great ideas! It's a pity no one with any authority will consider them.
This last year has been a wakeup call for me and I'm guessing a lot of other Independen­ts. The Administra­tion and Congress behave like my seven-year­-old's Little League team without its coach -- no discipline­, not a scintilla of understand­ing of how to play the game, and whining that the Other Team is a bunch of cheaters! They only showed up for the Juice Boxes and Cookies.
Isn't there someone here who knows how to play the game?