By happy coincidence, the new Speaker of the House and much of the Republican leadership of the House represent districts in swing states. And while their districts likely will remain safe after redistricting, I hope the Democrats spend the time recruiting candidates and spend the money running ads against Republican leadership.
This accomplishes a few things: first it pushes them to moderate their stances. If they know there will be a serious challenge from people to their left, they’ll have to think before kowtowing to the teaparty activists in their midst. So perhaps we’ll see awful legislation turned slightly less awful if the people charged with passing it through the House fear for their own seats.
It also means we can play offense in states that Obama is going to need to carry. Every crazy bill passed through the House gets a nice ad in Ohio and Virginia calling it out, and lays blame on Boehner and Cantor. We get to have a conversation about the awful things the republicans do in areas of those states that perhaps don’t often have those conversations. This will help Obama win in Ohio by having a conversation, by getting media for the Democrat’s position, and if the downticket races look competitive recruit volunteers.
Best (although least likely) of all, we might pick up some seats. Yes, Boehner got 2/3 of the vote last year. But every district in the country gets redistricted, so last cycle’s results are only so telling. And Democrats haven’t given these districts a test in a long time, so it’s not as out there as you might think.
This year’s election results mean Republicans now own responsibility for the economy. And coupled with the GOP’s obstructionist strategy, they also mean nothing will get done over the next two years — except deepening the deficit and adding to the national debt because of Republican insistence on extending Bush’s billionaire tax cuts, which Obama says he’ll now go along with (because he has no choice).
Voters may have been angry this year, but they’ll be even angrier two years from now at a political system mired in a deadlock caused by Republican obtuseness and instransigence.
I wouldn’t want to be a Republican candidate in 2012.
In addition, it’s just plain distracting. There are only so many hours in a day and these are busy guys. Every meeting with their re-election committee or pollster is one meeting less plotting what they’re going to call Social Security privitazation this time around or what to impeach Obama on.
@ 1 RR
It is deliberate. The GOP WANTS the economy to collapse. They WANT %30 unemployment. To them, the Constitutional Government is the enemy and must be destroyed.
These are people who would love to see perpetual warfare, perpetual poverty and military/corporate governance. Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove and John Boehner have openly criticized and disparaged civilian control over the military. They openly criticize the Constitution as being anathema to their ideas of the purpose of Government.
These are die-hard fascists. They would love to see nothing less than a rigid, militarist government using religion as the weapon to control the greater population.
They want to eliminate:
Child labor laws
Worker safety laws
Environmental protection laws
Import restrictions
Taxes for the highest income earners and wealthiest individuals
National Parks
Public utilities
The Civilian controlled military
Food safety laws
Drug Safety laws
Miranda rights
Securities trading restrictions
Bank Regulations
Airline safety regulations
etc etc etc.
They have already announced their intention to do all of these things.
They are people who look at Ayn Rand as their messiah, and whine about how their lifestyles are so adversely impacted by the rule of law.
@3
I think you are exactly right again DF.
In my more bleak moments I despair for this country and wonder if/when the time will come to get out – like a Jew in 1920s Germany – before these foul creatures take complete control and begin to construct their dystopia with the obvious consequences for people like me.
Goldy,
You don’t go after the House Leadership seats. These Representatives have like $3 million in their campaign war chests, and it is difficult to find a challenger who can raise $500k against them.
The only one in leadership I would seriously try to after is Kathy Morris Rodgers, and I would only go so far, I guess I always feel that the fifth district still has some little hope for the Dems, much like the adjacent Idaho district that went back to the GOP.
I think hit them by go after the House leadership power, their fundraising for other candidates, especially for the first term or second term representatives. Sadly with redistricting, they are going to be more entrenched Republicans in some districts.
Much like Michelle Bachmann’s district is kind of conservative but not that conservative. However, I always feel it is better to put resources elsewhere, because Bachmann probably does more damage to the House GOP than good, much like Steve King or Louie Gomert.
You have to target the voters that voted for the Dems in 2008, and left in droves in 2010, White middle class voters in exurbs and semi rural areas.
Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is also another place, I would seriously focus in getting back to the Dem column. I sort of lost hope for the 8th, even when Reichert has to go back to the hospital for further MRIs.
A-fucking-men.
Let’s go on fucking offense.
http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/
Don’t cave on the tax cuts. Make those bastards put up or shut up.
re 4: There’s a reason they call it a “Global Economy”. You won’t get away that easily.
I was doing some research this morning on the concept of the ‘new feudalism’ — an idea commonly held as leftist. But, since the last time I looked into it, the Righthas glommed onto this idea and is using it to cast government as the Sheriff of Nottingham and the global corporations as Robin Hood.
When the concept filters through to Beck-land, it will be infuriating at the perverse twisting of the concept.
The Democrats used a mensch (Howard Dean) to put themseves in the driver’s seat, but it seems they’ve backslid into using girly men again.
Dems take the offense? You gotta be kidding.
@3
I don’t think the GOP wants the economy to collapse, the last time there was 25% unemployment, the Republicans were out of power for 20 years. If Bush actually went through with Social Security privatization in 2005-2006, we wouldn’t be talking about a split Congress, but will Obama have 2/3 majority in both houses, and for how long, besides Florida and Arizona as heavily Democratic states..
The GOP wants the economy to succeed, they just want it to succeed in their ideological way, which other people call delusional. In these tough economic times, we have to be pragmatic, we have to be all Keynesian, and we have to do some long term planning, which means the histrionics have to be at a minimum, which the GOP is not very good at.
If Eric Cantor got his way during the Financial Bailout in 2008, with insurance fund instead of $800 billion of cash injected in the Financial system. We would be looking at 25% unemployment. That is the beauty of being the minority party in power in one of the houses in Congress, they can be irresponsible. They can’t implement Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan now they are in power, or think 15 pages of their economic plan is responsible gov’t.
I think all politicians need to be held accountable to their constituents. Many of these newly elected congressmen ran stealth campaigns. Poll after poll show that the general public is much more middle of the road than a good number of these candidates.
The GOP’s plan is to hold the economic recovery hostage until they can gain the White House. In their minds they can unseat Obama in two years if the economy is still sluggish. They will do anything to reach that goal.
To counter this strategy the Democrats need to be proactive. Dig in and make those hard cuts in the budget. Restructure the tax code so that the middle and lower classes feel less of the tax burden. Tie tax increases, if any, to directly paying down the deficit.
Above all, unify in message and actions! Stop squabbling that Obama isn’t liberal enough or that some of the more progressive agenda is being pushed. Don’t let the GOP expand their beach head!
re 10: If a prsident and a congress are elected to get the car out of the ditch and they do that by driving it into the river, I don’t see criticism of that to be ‘squabbling’.
People who get elected as populist Democrats and act like corporate triangulators are no better than the other side.
In fact, they are the other side.
All great, but democrats need to actually figure out how to message these issues to a retarded electorate.
The recent debt reduction panel’s plan (for how right leaning it is) is getting torn apart by so-called fiscal conservatives that don’t understand how much money is involved in our budget and how much spending cuts / tax increases are needed to get something done. Dems need to pound it into these people’s head that dems created social security and medicare with strong republican opposition.
Also, the tax break conversation was handled very poorly. Instead of telling the American people that one tax break is for middle income and one is for rich was stupid. They should have said, one is for everyone (it applies to all money under $250K) and the other one is just for the rich. Emphasize that the so-called “middle class tax break” is a break for everyone so rich people can suck it up.
Here’s a novel idea — the federal government should pay for itself! If there is a federal program worth spending dollars on, then it is a federal program worth forcing people to pay taxes in order to fund.
Nobody has had the courage to promote such a radical idea since Bill Clinton was President.
We have had three shifts of political power since that time: (a) to Republicans in 2000, (b) to Democrats in 2006/2008, and (c) back to Republicans in 2010 — all of them based on the opposite of common sense budgeting. Either a promise to cut taxes, raise spending, or both. And the federal deficit keeps getting worse every time.
@3 and 4: Me too, especially regarding the when to leave question.
I think we are going to be relatively OK here (PNW) and I would expand the question and discussion to:
At what point do we extricate ourselves from the rest of the (already broken) country and go our own way?
And note that I believe this will happen in a defacto way as the rest of the country and the global economy disintegrate — not as secession.
@14, ah the Republic of Cascadia.
I’d really like it if the Red States took a second to think about what would happen to Fly over country if the blue states did break away. I believe Texas is the only Red State that pays more in federal taxes than receives in benefits.
I’d be happy if we left and took our dirty, red-state subsidizing socialism with us.
@15
word
The whole global economy BS is based on cheap oil.
Dramatically increase the cost of oil before the outsourcers can solve that problem, and the whole cheap overseas labor becomes a moot point.
This whole outsourcing craze atarted with the Newq England carpet manufacturers moving their plants to the Southern US to avoid high priced union labor.
@1, Roger…Obama has a veto pen. What he lacks is the principle to use it. If he were to stand his ground on this one issue alone, his polling would go through the roof. And rightly so because this is good policy…it’s ethically righteous.
Roger Rabbit @ 1
Don’t count on it in 2012. Neither party has a coherent strategy for fiscal stability. The Republicans suck worse, since they don’t want to fund government hardly at all, and are strongly opposed to anything progressive and decent (like making health care accessible to more people).
But it is the Republicans’ turn to take some initiatives and make proposals for what they want the federal government to do. Every dollar in the federal budget (definitely for the new FY starting 10/01/2011, and possibly even for the current FY — since the Democrats in Congress were brilliant enough not to even pass a budget yet!) is going to be something approved by a GOP majority House — and something they will have to take ownership for. Obama can veto changes to existing laws (or even the budget for that matter), but any new laws are definitely going to be something the Republicans approve of — and probably initiated.
So it isn’t really clear what the Republicans’ platform for the country is at this point. Their 2008 presidential platform seems outdated by changes in events, and there wasn’t a clear agenda such as the 1994 “Contract with America” (which was actually pretty sensible, mostly got adopted, worked well — and Bill Clinton ended up taking credit for — and was much different from what GWB did to fuck over the country years later). Their recent legislative strategy leaves few clues — since they mostly voted “NO”, instead of making alternate proposals.
So the Republicans will either be exposed as a bunch of empty suits (with some empty skirts, to be sure) when they come up with mostly NOTHING being in leadership, or they will actually accomplish SOMETHING. I am not very confident, because you don’t cut taxes in the face of a trillion dollar deficit (much of which is structural, and not just cyclical). Nor can they throw away most of the health care reform — most of which is far too popular and necessary to simply do away with.
Sorry I screwed up,
I should address my @5 post to Carl, not Goldy..
My Bad..
@11 Actually good analogy, I’ll grant you that. It’s just that the Dems need to define their “brand” and not let the GOP define it for them.
Of course we could just pull the trick of forming a new brand… Would that make the Tea Party New Coke?