This is what tends to irritate me about the Democrats. Of course, it's really bad in my own state, with Sen. Ben Nelson scared of his own shadow and always desperate to make his constituents think he's more Republican than the Republicans.
I would say that Nelson has no convictions at all, but actually, he does have one: he's convinced he should be re-elected. Apparently, everything else is negotiable. Of course, when a politician - Democrat or Republican - does stand up for what he believes, he tends to get defeated by an opponent who's not so honest. So I guess we get the kind of politicians we deserve, huh?
But cowardice works differently in Republicans. Yes, they're at least as cowardly as Democrats, but they tend to stick together. No matter what they really think, they follow the party line, marching in lockstep. Republicans value obedience above all. But Democrats are more like cats. It's hard to even get them facing in the same direction. Apparently, the only thing Democrats do well together is hiding under the bed.
So how is that going to work for them tomorrow? Barack Obama is supposed to be unpopular (about as unpopular as Ronald Reagan, in fact, at the same point in his presidency), so Democrats try to pretend they don't know him. But when you run away from the "D" behind your name, when you run away from the solid accomplishments of Congress the past two years, at least when you're the majority party,... what's left? Obama might be unpopular, but not nearly as unpopular as Congress (and, yes, not nearly as unpopular as Congressional Republicans, even though people apparently intend to vote for them anyway).
(RJ Matson, 10-5-10)
Of course, much of the decrease in Obama's popularity comes from the left, from supporters unhappy that he hasn't accomplished enough. The Tea Partiers are louder, but they never liked him to begin with. A black Democrat? Heck, they were freaking out before Obama even took office. In fact, there was an "Impeach Obama" group on Facebook before he even won the nomination.
Obama hasn't lost the support of Republicans. He didn't have that to begin with. Indeed, many Republicans - not enough, unfortunately - have become disgusted with the extremism of their own party and with the lunatics they've been nominating for high public office. There's an opportunity there, if Democrats weren't so timid.
The problem is not that the Democratic base is turning to the GOP. The problem is that they're becoming discouraged and that discouraged people don't vote. According to the polls, tomorrow looks to be pretty bad for Democrats - although not much different than a normal midterm election during a recession - but almost all of that is because the right is more likely to vote than the left and the center. Polls of registered voters aren't showing this turn to the right. No, it's polls of likely voters that's the problem. Democrats - and particularly young people - simply can't be bothered to vote.
What's going to happen to us? Is it the shower scene from Psycho, played out nationwide? Probably not, at least not yet. After all, only two percent of Americans identify themselves as active Tea Partiers, and we've always had that kind of lunatic fringe. The problem is that we've got huge problems in this country, and we just can't afford what we're likely to see in Congress the next two years. We can't afford to completely ignore our country's problems while the GOP does nothing but work to prevent Obama's re-election.
After all, we're still in the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, and we're still at war. Our system of education is failing badly, especially compared to our global competitors. As China builds 21st Century infrastructure, our own 20th Century infrastructure is crumbling. And we can't afford to stick our heads in the sand, as Republicans prefer, when it comes to global warming, the energy crisis, the destruction of our oceans, or resource depletion in general.
We have serious problems facing us. Our situation is not hopeless, not at all. As Jon Stewart pointed out, we live in hard times, not end times. But it's going to take intelligence, knowledge, and courage to deal with them. Bigotry won't help. Superstition won't help. Mindless fear won't help. We wanted change in 2008, but wanting is one thing and being willing to work - hard - to accomplish that change is another.
Are we willing to persevere, no matter what setbacks we encounter? Or will we just give up? When our fleet was wiped out at Pearl Harbor, we didn't give up. In the depths of the Great Depression, we didn't give up. And civil rights activists didn't give up, despite decade after decade of no progress at all in racial equality and women's suffrage. Do we still have what it takes? I guess we'll see.
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