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A Political Earthquake for Democrats
The Republican victory in the Massachusetts senate race on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 demonstrates the power of right-wing ideology when expressed vociferously. Another very powerful message from this senate race is that the influence and popularity of President Obama is nothing but media hype without substance. “All politics is local,” said the late Tip O’Neill.
But consider this: the most popular president (according to the media) campaigns for the Democratic governor of Virginia—and a Republican is elected. He campaigned for the governor of New Jersey—and a Republican wins. He campaigns for a Democratic senator candidate—and a Republican wins. Clearly, the president’s popularity in America is superficial. The people of Massachusetts have demonstrated that the Kennedy mystique was nothing more substantial than a vapor.
The late Senator Edward Kennedy spent a very large portion of his 40 years fighting for national healthcare for all Americans. On his deathbed, his last wish to Obama was to fight for the passage of the healthcare legislation working its way through Congress. To see an unknown Republican run successfully on a platform dedicated to killing the healthcare legislation is mind-blowing, especially when we remember that this was Senator Kennedy’s life struggle.
It is clear that this senate race was a stinging referendum on the Democratic leadership in Congress (Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid), the White House (President Obama) and the articulations of the Democratic message. The loss of three major elections (two governor races and one senate race) clearly calls for a leadership change, from the Speaker of the House to the Senate Majority Leader and the Democratic National Chairman. It is astounding to see how the Republican Party in Congress has opposed virtually all of Obama’s domestic programs without offering an alternative—and yet the party is able to win three major elections. The GOP has become the “NO” party but is able to win elections. How is that possible?
The success of the Republicans is not due to any strong party leadership, but to “White Rage” against the so-called big government. The “Tea Party” movement born as result has been able to hijack the political sentimenta of a fringe minority and ingeniously turn it into a national referendum on the Democratic Party. The success of the “Tea Party” is the simplicity of the message – big government, high taxes and deficits. The greatest success of Ronald Reagan’s presidency was also the demonizing of the Democratic Party as a “tax and spend” party. For almost three decades, the Democrats have not been able to bleach out this tainted perception. The Tea Party’s core message is “big government and higher taxes.” They call the healthcare legislation “socialized medicine” and urge their core supporters to fight against it. And when you ask them to define Medicaid and Medicare they turn dumb. I have yet to see them campaign for the repeal of these two socialized programs. This is the greatest hypocrisy in American politics yet Democrats seem unable to address it.
Another success of the Tea Party in capturing the limelight is the silence of the majority. The summer of 2009 catapulted the Tea Party members into media attention because of their rowdy behavior at town-hall meetings and street demonstrations against Obama’s domestic agenda. On the other hand, all surveys show that Americans are in favor of healthcare reform. Yet we have yet to see at least 10,000 supporters in the streets demonstrating for its passage. Why?
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