If I were President Barack Obama I would also be out on the political rally circuit strongly encouraging my fellow Democrats to be strong and courageous. After all, “we” still hold a 59 to 41 majority in the U.S. Senate and a very large majority in the House of Representatives, which therefore means we control every branch of government except the Supreme Court.
Yet we see Democrats fretting and running for political cover simply because Scott Brown won the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, which took away the Dems supermajority in the Senate. Senators such as Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are capitulating to resurgent Republicans. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota have decided not to run for reelection, thus opening the door for more Republican gains. When we couple this with other vulnerable Senate seats as those of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Roland Burris of Illinois (appointed to fill President Barack Obama’s Senate seat by disgraced Governor Rod Blagoevich), and retiring Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, the Republicans smell political blood in the water, and it seems like Democrats are seeing themselves as the prey instead of the ruling majority.
It seems funny that just a few months ago the GOP was in total disarray as they watched John McCain, their standard-bearer, and his VP running mate former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin get hammered by the internet-savvy, intellectually and strategically superior change agent, Barack Hussein Obama.
Now it seems as though the Republicans are the Buffalo Bills, who, having found themselves down by over 30 points to the Houston Oilers in the 1992 AFC Divisional Playoffs, won the game in overtime by a score of 41-38, which still stands as the greatest comeback in NFL history. I don’t know which Republican leader is the metaphorical Franck Reich, but this I do know: Democrats in both houses of Congress need to Oiler Up, Man Up, Woman Up, or whatever cliche you want to give it and provide the decisive leadership that the people who elected them are clamoring for, because if I know the Republicans as well as I think I do, once they regain the majorities in Congress, and especially if and when they regain the White House, they will be more politically decisive and fiscally incisive than what we are presently seeing from the Democrats.
Does President Obama bear some of the responsibility for this? Of course he does, especially when you consider that he may have, out of deference or a sense of feeling a sincere or politically expedient need for shared governance, delegated too much control of the health care debate to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus. But if you will allow me to use another sports analogy I will assert that the coach’s motivation is only supposed to count for so much; it is the players’ responsibility to go out on the field and execute the game plan. As the well-worn cliche goes, “There is no I in Team,” which politically translated means, “Stop trying to cover your own political anatomy and get behind the President if you truly believe that your policies will benefit this great nation.” And President Obama , please stay on the political offensive because, to use another cliche, “Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.”
That’s my opinion; what’s yours? (c) 2010, Sherman Crockett