Columnist Peggy Noonan wrote yesterday a provocative little piece that caught my eye in the Wall Street Journal. I've been mulling it over since...
There was only one unforgettable moment, and that was in a cutaway shot, of Hillary Clinton [who made a bad expression to the cameras during Bush's State of the Union Address]...Maybe she knew the habitu?s of the Daily Kos, and other leftwing Web sites, were watching. Conservatives are always writing about the strains and stresses within the Republican Party, and they are real. But the Democratic Party seems to be near imploding, and for that most humiliating of reasons: its meaninglessness. Republicans are at least arguing over their meaning.
The venom is bubbling on websites like Kos, where Tuesday afternoon, after the Alito vote, various leftists wrote in such comments as "F--- our democratic leaders," "Vichy Democrats" and "F--- Mary Landrieu, I hope she drowns." The old union lunch-pail Democrats are dead, the intellects of the Kennedy and Johnson era retired or gone, and this--I hope she drowns--seems, increasingly, to be the authentic voice of the Democratic base.
How will a sane, stable, serious Democrat get the nomination in 2008 when these are the activists to whom the appeal must be made?
Republicans have crazies. All parties do. But in the case of the Democrats--the leader of their party, after all, is the unhinged Howard Dean--the lunatics seem increasingly to be taking over the long-term health-care facility. Great parties die this way, or show that they are dying.
Many folks, even in light of the "jump the shark" controversy, may dispute Noonan's read on Daily Kos. I think she fails to recognize the diversity of opinions there, but there is a good argument the kind of negativism she cites reflects how many mainstream Democrats view progressive bloggers--rightly or wrongly (and I write aware that I fall into this kind of stereotype).
But looking deeper into this piece, I think Noonan says some telling things about the state of where Democrats are at nationally. There are a lot of Democrats searching for more meaningfulness from their party and politics, not just discontented bloggers. A distinction I take with Noonan's analysis is that I think that, over the past year, there have been signs that the party is moving towards something. Wierdest of all, we see this probably most distinctly here in Virginia.
Increasingly, I am getting a feeling that this may have been just why Kaine was chosen--in a party filled with bright rising stars--for the Democratic response to the State of the Union. Those of us who recall Dean's intially tepid enthusiasm for Kaine's candidacy (when he first took the reigns at the DNC) found Kaine's selection for the SOTU response especially surprising. So, does Kaine's giving the speech reflect a bigger mandate than a mere pat on the back for a job well done in turning around a difficult election?
Many things have been said about Kaine and his speech, but nobody could say it lacked meaningfulness. Maybe that was the whole point. It certainly speaks to why Kaine chose this moment--a moment where he can't even fundraise--to start up his own PAC (it will certainly provide him with resources for spreading his approach to the rest of the country).
I'm left wondering just what kind of meaning Kaine's influence will have on the Party as we move on through the ongoing process of claiming what "Democratic" stands for.
Taking that notion to the assertion that the Democratic Party stands for nothing and is dying is laughable. Yes, there are internal struggles in the Democratic Party over many things, probably no more so than there are in the Republican Party.
However, the truth lies in the fact that since this administration began its assault on the powers of "we the people" in government, I think we are actually seeing quite the opposite: the rebirth of an energized left willing to fight, and more importantly, willing to engage in a pragmatic progressive politics that won't always be perfect, but will be progress.
There are signs all over the place that this is true, including the blogoshere itself, but also the Pew Research Center's political polling results that continue to show "liberal" as the fastest growing segment of the ideological spectrum in the US.
Anyway, Noonan is just a hack. Let her continue to think we're near death while we retake the red state of Virginia.
Electing Democrats in Red States is the future I am looking toward.
I really wish some of you would venture out of the cities you live in and see what Tim Kaine did in the rural communities of VA that once felt neglected by the Democratic Party.
Please stop looking to "someone" in the Democratic Party to solve the porblems you identify - Be that someone or shut-up.
Just do our own thing, and LET THE REPUBLICANS REPSOND TO US FOR A CHANGE instead of the other way around. There, I feel better.
I am aware of Noonan's background as Reagan and Bush Sr.'s speech writer, but I do think it is always worthy to consider our opponent's analysis. Her name calling on Dean is vituperative, certainly, but do you deny that there has been a sense of "meaninglessness" on our own side? If anything, she gives greater credence to the frustrations voiced by so many progressive bloggers.