There was a prettty great brief on NPR’s Morning Edition. It’s about how the Democrats often times don’t have a clear message and are losing more and more voters because of it. The part that really has me thinking, however, was an excerpt from a recent speech Clinton gave. He was talking about a close friend, and evangical preacher who last year voted for Bush. When Clinton asked why he explained:
Because ever since you left nobody in your party talks to us anymore. Bill, you can’t vote for someone who doesn’t talk to you.
It suddenly occurred to me that this is frighteningly true.
absolutely, in my eyes, all they are selling these days is fear and arrogance. but much like the press, they can’t figure out why it’s not selling. normal people just don’t want to hear it…and now that there are alternative places to get info, people are seeking it out. politically, the democrats need to buckle down and organize themselves and go back to the mainstream democrat as opposed to blowing the fringe wackjob-left. the wackjob right at least knows what they stand for… and the not-so-wackjob right can accept a little jesus-freakish behavior because they can understand where those people are coming from. unfortunately, the way left tends to alienate their not-so-left brothers and make it impossible for their mainstream to accept such strong points of view. clinton could talk to them all with such ease, he just had an amazing ability to talk. like all politicians, it’s 80% bullshit, but he was good!
Um, I feel pretty alienated by the right, myself, and if you are looking to buy some fear you don’t need to look much past our current president and his spin machine. That is what I don’t get. I reckon the democrats DO need to find a way to reach out to people on “morals” and “god”, but I don’t feel like anyone is reaching out to me. hmmmmm
I loved to hear Clinton speak. I have to admit.
Did you ever see the movie the Last Supper? I think about its message a lot especially in reference to the far right and the far left. Thing is, the middle ground seems to becoming more and more blurred and that’s the part that’s frustrating especially when the middle ground tends to harbor the most people.
sian, that’s because when someone DOES speak out they are seen as total raging lunatics (i.e. Dean).
I think Democrats have been so afraid of alienating potential voters, they gave up a message entirely. Now, we just vote for whoever they put before us. Our choices during the last election was almost laughable, i mean, if it weren’t so unbelievably horrifying.
Side note: I think Hillary has been doing a decent job bringing up religion, faith, etc. Hopefully, she can woo back some of the Bible belt and middle America for 2008.
i think that “political correctness” has been killing politics. no one can pick a side of an argument these days without offending someone. how do we as people expect to have a discussion about something without differing opinions? does everyone have to agree? the intent of political correctness is to define what the “normal” opinion about a topic is. if you go against the normal way of thought, you are all of a sudden, a horrible person. and if you do this as a politician, you are attacked by the other side and at times, by your own side.
They were rerunning Ken Burns’ Civil War series last night and I turned to Kerry and asked, “Can you imagine living in a country where you KNEW a civil war was inevitable?” That was the way life was in the US pretty much after the Compromise of 1850. The real divisions in economies, social structures, and beliefs in the 19th century DWARF the minor ideological differences we have today (i would say that the differences are greater in the rhetoric of right and left, but in practice the two are barely distinguishable).