Democrats Tilt Right

The Democratic leadership has line up in support of Joe Lieberman against the liberal challenger Ned Lamont. Lamont has gained a great deal of support from the left against a senior Senator that is perceived as turning too much toward the conservative camp of the opposition party. Senator Lieberman has been a steady supporter of the war in Iraq. He created the American Council of Trustees and Alumni with the help of Lynn Cheney to attack college professors that challenged public policy after 9/11. The organization went so far as to release a document called “Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America''. The paper accused professors of anti-American activities for teaching students context within the war on terror. Lieberman has made many “compromises” and deals with the republican leadership that has almost always favored the conservative position while giving very little to Democrats in return. The best example may be the failure of Democrats to use the Senate procedure of the filibuster to block conservative nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. This was, in no small part, thanks to Joe Lieberman and the “Gang of 14” that reached a deal letting the vote for Bush appointments to occur. This was great for Republicans but Democrats gained nothing. Liberal frustration with Lieberman came to graphic illustration when President Bush kissed him on the check moments before his 2005 State of the Union address.

The liberal wing of the Democratic Party has become energies to action by the actions of their own leadership. The Democratic leadership seems to think the way to win elections, including the big one in ‘08 is to steal away some of the loyal republican core by acting a little more like Republicans. They’ve come to believe it is more likely that republicans will switch candidates than those on the left will vote at all. Who can blame them? College kids and Internet bloggers came out in force in ’04. They attended rallies, concerts and events but when it came time to vote 04’ saw no significant gains in youth voting. Political activists that couldn’t translate themselves into numbers at the polls left John Kerry high and dry. One third of this countries potential voter stayed home in ‘04. Democrats seem convinced that they are an unattainable political resource. Instead they court the conservative voter. Those that believe in conservative ideology and policy but don’t see the modern Republican leadership good stewards of their political ideals. The problem with the strategy is that conservative voters already have a party. Turning the Democratic Party into a watered down version of the Republican Party reminds me of a show I saw as a child. The Harlem Globetrotters favorite adversaries were the Washington Generals and the New Your Nationals. The Generals wore Yellow while the Globetrotters wore the flashy red white and blue. The boys in yellow seemed to try hard to win but even while telling jokes and doing tricks the Globetrotters never really had to worry about loosing the game. Without those Generals however there would be no game, no show and no reason to come to see the famous Harlem Globetrotters. Democrats have bee playing the roll of the Washington Generals for the past several years and if they continue elections will be all show and no game.