Dozens of Democrats, especially the leadership, have defected to a new party: the
Invertebrates. Their symbol is the jellyfish. Their
“I-sorta-kinda-disagree-with-W” squishiness has
made possible the triumph of the fanatical. Their opposition
to the aggressive right wing is so spineless and lacking in
confidence, it can only be described as cowardly.
Why is the leadership of the Democratic Party so
lacking in — well, leadership? Why is the party so paralyzed when
it comes to mounting any kind of credible challenge to
the Bush agenda of war without end and decimation of
the economy? It appears that, collectively, the Democratic
Party is struggling hard to straddle the right-of-center line
the Republican Party is straddling; so it is impossible to
recognize them as anything but Bush Lites.
The Democratic Party may have had all the
“moderate” it can stand. There’s nothing moderate about President
Bush and the Republican Party. As a matter of fact, a larger
agenda of fundamentally changing the role of government is
taking place in Washington, and no one is doing anything to stop it.
The problem isn’t that Democrats are on the wrong side
of the issues. They are afraid to make an issue of being on
the right side — in the middle of mainstream American thought.
For example, three out of four Americans believe the
latest round of tax cuts will not significantly reduce their
taxes, and fewer than 30 percent think the cuts are the best way
to stimulate the economy. A majority of Americans are
intensely concerned about the skyrocketing unemployment rate
and out-of-control budget deficits. But Democrats become
jellyfish when it comes to challenging a president who
consistently provides more and more tax cuts for the wealthy.
Some of them shoot out a few stinging words but, inevitably,
hitch themselves to the Republican tax-cut seaweed and float along.
On foreign policy, numbers also favor the
Democrats. The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal
poll indicates that 57 percent of Americans are opposed to investing the
billions of dollars it will take to rebuild Iraq. However,
Democrats twitter into semiliquidity when it comes to providing
forceful opposition to the potential Iraqi quagmire.
And even though weapons of mass destruction,
Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden have not been found,
Democrats fear being called unpatriotic and un-American for
speaking out about the wrongheaded and arrogant way the
preemptive invasion was carried out without the support of the
world.
And on it goes. The majority of the American
people agree with the Democrats on protecting the
environment, safeguarding Social Security, improving the quality of
education, and providing greater access to affordable health
care. They agree that corporate criminals must be prosecuted
and that corporations must start ponying up their share of
taxes instead of being given “corporate welfare.”
All of this makes the inability of Democrats to
provide alternatives and opposition to the Bush administration
even more infuriating. And shameful.
There are nine Democrats running for president in
2004. Some of them are talking tough. A few have stridently
spoken out against the destructive policies of this White House.
But many of them, as members of Congress, have
hemmed and hawed but given wholehearted support to the war
in Iraq and the tax cuts. They now expect us to believe
they will stand up to the right-wing forces that want more
tax cuts for the wealthy and more military aggression.
One of the greatest of all Democrats, Franklin
D. Roosevelt, once said, “The only thing we have to fear is
fear itself.” Heed that, all you fearful, apprehensive
Invertebrates! Else you’ll be washed-up jellyfish on the political shore
while the rest of us try to figure out how to live in a country that
is broke and at war with the next enemy-of-the-month.
Cheri DelBrocco is a local Democratic
activist.
