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What Democrats Must Do Now
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The 2009 election has come and gone. Once again, the media and their political analysts have failed in their assessment of what would happen.
They are going to also fail in their interpretations of what happened.
In spite of what you see on TV or what your newspaper columnist is saying, the election was not a referendum on President Barack Obama. What happened in Virginia and New Jersey wasn’t a sign that the Democrats are in trouble and the Republicans are surging. The result was simply a refection of the time.
And what is the time? It is a time of economic uncertainty and voters are worried. The voters have no patience with slow recovery that has not provided jobs. They think that the government is not acting fast enough to address their pressing problems. They perceive government as being more interested in helping the elite, the same people who have always benefited from the system.
It is good this election happened one year after the election of Barack Obama. The next election coming one year from now will be more significant. By then, the blame for the economic mess will be squarely placed on Obama’s feet. Nobody then will remember that George W. Bush was the president who got us in this mess. What that means is that the stakes will be a lot higher then.
Here are the Ten Things the Democrats must do now.
1.) Obama must begin to approach governance as a president who is not interested in winning a second term. That will free him from compromising and from searching for the center. If he delivers for his base, he will win another term easily.
2.) The Democrats who are from the red states must stop panicking over their political future. In the worst case scenario, they cannot save themselves if the Democrats fail to deliver and they cannot save themselves if the Democrats deliver. So they might as well help the Democrats to deliver.
3.) Just like the result of NY 23 Congressional seat shows, the Democrats should keep pushing the Republicans to the extreme right. Let them ally with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. When it is time to go to the polls, majority of Americans will always stay away from the fringe.
4.) Democrats should find a way to pass the Healthcare reform bill with a public option. There is no better way to awake their base. If they fail, the base will be asleep in 2010, just like they were yesterday.
5.) Before the 2010 election, Democrats should push for a comprehensive immigration bill. It will look like suicide in the light of today’s unemployment numbers but it is not. It will fire up the conservatives and get many of them off the edge. But it will also show the contrast between the two parties. That will stop people from confusing the two.
6.) By 2010, the economy will be picking up and job situation will be looking better. The Independents must have seen that the alarm over debt and the deficit was exaggerated. When faced with the never changing Republican alternative, many will make the right choice.
7.) Democrats should pass a law protecting the right of Fox News to keep doing whatever it is they are doing. The law should protect them from White House attacks. It will demand an immediate trading of CNN’s Lou Dobbs to Fox News in exchange for Bill Hammer.
8.) As election 2012 gets close, Nancy Pelosi should threaten to challenge Barack Obama for the Democratic Party nomination. That will be enough reminder to the nation of what the alternative is.
9.) Democrats should pass a bill compelling Joe Lieberman to attend all Republican conventions from now on and make the keynote speeches.
10.) In case of emergency, Michelle Obama should be ready to step in and run for an open senate seat anywhere in the country.
