Letters to the Editor
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Future is Today
Look, there's one good reason the Democrats won't get elected next year: they were elected last year!
They are in significant offices NOW. The country is in trouble (on so many fronts) NOW. And yet they are so consumed with positioning themselves for the big office they think they will inherit next year they refuse to lead today.
Well, that's not gonna work. This country--as has been shown by several elections--is split down the middle, electorate wise, between people who vote Republican and those who vote Democratic. And, barring some unusual competence by one side or the other, neither of those factions is going to move toward the other.
Bush's incompetence gave the Democrats a big chance in 2006. They could have seized the day. Instead, they tried to seize the future. But that is much more elusive and unpredictable, and in any case, you can't get the future unless you act today.
I'm not saying Democrats can't expand their majorities or even win the presidency next year. I'm saying they have to start acting as if they realize that more than their own narrow future political fortunes are at stake in what they are doing RIGHT NOW. Only that sort of civic mindedness will convince the future that they are the right choice.
The country wants the war to end; the country is sick of rights violations; the country wants health care; the country wouldn't mind it if our nation was not an international pariah. All of this is documented by many, clear polls. It doesn't take electoral courage to show leadership on these issues. What it takes is a realization--evidently a light-bulb moment for these people--that they are being asked to lead, and not simply run for office.