"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Eninstein
"Forever in debt to your priceless advice." -- Kurt Cobain
It's hangover day. Democratic politicians and pundits are waking up, feeling a familiar soreness in their head, slowly and methodically sitting up in their beds, letting their feet drop to the floor, working the aching muscles of their mouths then opening their eyes to see a bleary political landscape that yesterday, they owned.
It's all advice and analysis this morning and most of it is debate about whether Obama should move to the center or not. Most of the people giving that advice are part of the professional pundit industry that is made up of Washington insiders; former administration officials, failed politicians and the same crappy journalists that Jon Stewart held a rally against.
Most of the people giving advice -- including many of voices you're reading right here on the Huffington Post -- aren't just too close to accurately see the problem that caused Obama's slide in the polls and dismal midterms; they ARE the problem.
Candidate Obama's constant message was about rejecting the smallness of the politics that keeps up from solving our country's problems. This isn't a 'center' message because that implies it lies somewhere between the establishment Democrats and the establishment Republicans. This was an off-axis message, that was rejecting the corrupting influence on lobby money by both parties.
The appeal of Barack Ovama wasn't that he'd mindlessly 'reach across the aisle' with the Republicans but that as a relative political newcomer that he'd actually call the Democrats on their shit, too. The message of Hope and Change was about hoping he'd change the lobbyist, revolving door culture of Washington and lead.
This is where Obama has failed dismally and brought the Democratic party down with him. He stood by and let the Democratic party act in a greedy, dismal way. I don't know what's in Obama's soul and whether he meant what he said in the election and sold out to the establishment or whether he never meant what he said in the first place, but the results are obvious now and have been predictable for months -- huge election losses.
Both Stewart's massive audience at the Rally To Restore Sanity and Obama's '08 election show that people desperately want an alternative to our sponsored political system. Obama still has a chance to be that alternative but to do so, he's going to need to ignore the legions of political experts that litter the road between our two major political parties.
This will require some leadership that the President hasn't shown any hint of so far. He needs to be seen on the front lines for the people, not his party. Democratic politicians like Max Baucus should be called out as the lobbyist sell-outs that they are, not lauded as great leaders. He needs to lead and lay out modern, common sense positions on issues like gay rights, drug policy and fighting terrorism. He needs to stop being beholden to failed military and foreign policy ideas. And on the crucial issue of the economy he needs to make the case for creating the infrastructure that business needs in order to succeed -- including real health care reform -- and creating a regulatory framework that's actually efficient enough to protect the market.
If President Obama keeps playing by the Democratic and Republican playbooks, he's lost. Their political positions were forged in the Cold War, before personal computers and the internet changed the face of the economy and communications. If the President won't step into his new world, then someone else needs to.
That's the appeal of the Tea Party to many people; they seem like something new from outside the D.C. establishment. (No, the appeal isn't racism. There are plenty of lifelong Democrats who are racists.) The problem is that the Tea Party doesn't have real solutions, just some microwaved Ayn Rand.
This is no time for blind Democratic Party loyalty. The election was lost because of independent voters abandoning Obama and appeals to party loyalty don't mean a thing to them. If you don't want to see a repeat of last night two years from now, it's time to start working for something more than just the lesser of two evils.
Follow Lee Stranahan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Stranahan
And this pithy snippet: "the Tea Party doesn't have real solutions, just some microwaved Ayn Rand" -- perfection squared!
What do you think the truly independent voter thought when he was flipping between Fox News, to an unmentioned "liberal" talk show, and an unmentioned owner of a "liberal' web page was telling the host that "Obama is not into the middle class"?
Yet we hear you, trying to give advice, when frankly sir, you are part of the problem. Progressive tune in to hear facts, not what we are suppose to think, for that, I would tune into Fox news. How many knew that the financial bill was the most progressive piece of legislation to be passed in 60 years? We sure knew what wasn't in it, because you guys couldn't wait to let us know. What about the credit card reform? Eh, according to you guys, it wasn't a big deal, because the president had yet to overturn DADT.
I am calling on all progressives; stop letting the professional left tell this president how to do his job. He can not possible please everyone, and it only confuses the base.
The President has shown no interest in removing himself from the corrupting influences of the big business unions and has pandered to them with special favors in the Obamacare bill, and massive bailouts using OUR money.
Thus, the rise of Pelosi who promised to "drain the swamp". Thus the rise of Obama with his promise of "hope and change" that would eliminate corruption and change the processes of politics. Thus the rise of the Tea Party, when it became evident that neither Pelosi nor Obama were living up to their promises.
Americans are fed up with corrupt representative officials sacrificing our future for their own interests. It didn't help to have Tom Periello admitting that our officials have no restraint, and will keep "stealing" unless we tie their hands.
America can survive with a government that is either to the left or the right. What we can't survive is a government with unchecked corruption. Let's see if the Tea Party candidates can stick to their promises to avoid earmarks and focus on Constitutional principles, rather than lobbyists' money.
If they drop the ball and become corrupted like the rest of the Dems and Repubs have, then, frankly, I don't know where we'll turn.
I have no idea what his intentions really were either, and that is, as you say, the biggest problem of all.
The for sale sign needs to be taken down from in front of congress.
Over this summer I began to ask myself, "what do you do if two of our Rights, as citizens of these United States, are diametrically opposed?" I came to the only viable conclusion: you compromise. Our great Nation works when there is compromise. Upon this foundation a new party is born.
Please visit http://thompsoninthehouse.blogspot.com to learn about my position on the important issues facing Ohio and our Nation.
Thank you.
Jacquelyn K. Thompson
Do you want to risk being a loser while fighting the good fight, or do you want to risk being a loser making so little difference that your loss wont be noticed?