The Day after a shellacking rout - Democrats search for answers

It was conventional wisdom in the Winter of 2009 that the Republican Party was deeply wounded, and may require severalelection cycles to redeem itself. By the Fall of 2009, that conventional wisdom has been turned on its head – largely by Democratic incompetence, from the White House down on to the State Houses. The Democrats early on began to distance themselves from the policies they had ran on that gave them the Presidency, the Congress, the Senate and the most number of State Houses in the first place. Right out of the gate, the President was compromising even before having a conversation with those he needed to compromise with. Bipartisanship became the White House mantra – as members of the President’s inner cycle focused on 2012 instead of 2010. But after the 2010 routing, which Mr. Obama self described as a “shellacking”, the road to 2012 just became more difficult, if not mission impossible – At least so says the conventional wisdom.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi came down as one of the most accomplished speaker in generations, helping to craft and pass many key bread and butter bills for Americans – The minimum wage Act, TheLilly Ledbetter Act, The Recovery Act, The Health Care Act and many others – all aimed at making life a little more bearable for middle-class Americans. But the middle-class deserted Democrats on Tuesday.

Many pundits will continue to falsely claim the Speaker’s overreach is why she has now lost the majority in the congress, but a careful look will show that that was hardly the case. To be frank, hubris had a hand in the massacre, but it was hardly the key reason for the loss. Democratic leadership and rank and file second guessing was much more to blame. In the face of a United opposition from Republicans, Democrats could not figure out a how to present a unified and consistent fronts. The so called Blue Dogs spent the last two years running away from the Party platform, and in the process saw their ranks heavily decimated by voters who suffered no lilly-livered congress man or woman lightly. All told, all those Blue dogs who were outspoken against their leadership and proudly announced their opposition to the policy of their party almost nearly lost their re-election bid. True some party loyalists lost as well, but they could well have been casualty in a war of communication campaign that they other, more united side won.

Paul Krugman and many economists on the left, encouraged Mr. Obama who had campaigned on Hope and Audacity to beaudacious and bold in his response to the economic malaise. Get Americans to work doing work Americans needed done – building roads, schools, telecommunication infrastructures, transportation infrastructure and health care infrastructure that have been left to fall into disrepute for far too long. Mr. Obama’s response was tepid at best. Two years later, the nation’s unemployment rate continues to hover near 10% while many critical infrastructure project remain stuck in bureaucratic-knots  or  remain just unfunded. Instead of being hard on the Financial sector, demanding real accountability for the rescue they recieved from tax-payer asking them to forfeit some of their ill-gotten profit in the form of more hiring and higher pay for their rank and file employee, and partnership with the government in funding infrastructure projects, Mr. Obama and his team punted – trying to not come across as being too anti-business – Well in that vein too he lost the communication battle and is now seen as being anti-business anyway!

The health care debate was a major travesty. A public option was clearly the best way to address costs in the health care system. Democrats in the White House and in the senate took it off the table! Mr. Obama opted for a mandate, which he could have made the Republicans beg to have in the provision, and an Health Analytics group (another old Republican idea) which he could have watch Republicans beg for – He made these unnecessary concessions too early in the game, and they soon become an albatross around his neck. Maybe the final bill could have had these provisions, but they could have been made to be Republican ideas (which they really were) instead becoming fodders of oppositions by their original authors – Remember the death panel brouhaha in Summer of 2009?

By the end of 2009, Mr. Obama has shown himself too timid to fight the forces of opposition arrayed against him. He seemed to have bought into the false notion that he had to pander to an illusory center on issues, rather than  making a forceful case for his policy prescriptions and getting the other side to negotiate. Since he gave the other side all they could have reasonably expected out of a negotiation ahead of any negotiation, he offered them an opportunity to ask for much more than they would have hoped to get, setting himself up as being uncompromising from one end and being too conciliatory on another. It was no wonder the Democratic party lost their voice and their morale high-ground even though they were achieving great results for the country – rebuilding the foundation for a successful future.

On defense and national security, Mr. Obama made great gains, but lost the narrative on basic issues like closing Guantanamo Bay detention facility and trails for terrorist in America. He held a beer summit that only diminished his power and allowed self-serving Senators like Ben Nelson of Nebraska to make nonsense of the Health Care bill debate. Ms. Lincoln of Arkansas, lost despite her bobbing and weaving on the issues – a clear sign to voters that she was more interested in retaining “her job” than in doing her job. She lost.

Again, it is true that many unapologetic liberals lost on Tuesday, but most of those who lost on November 2, were those who demonstrated they had no spine. So as the Democrats search for answers in the next few days and weeks and months, they need to start understanding that Politics is a game of communication and strategy. The best prepared and better executor wins. The Republicans won this round, the Democrats better start to figure out how to win the next. And for starters, a new set of campaign chiefs should be in order, across the board.