I am on many different political mailing lists and it seems like the vast majority of the ones from the Democratic party and related organizations seem to all be focused on what a bad job President Bush is doing.
Is pointing out the mistakes of an elected official a good thing? It sure is! Accountability of politicians is essential. However, the problem lies in the fact that the goal of the democratic party should not solely be to remind us of how awful the current government leaders are. What they should be saying is, "Mr. Bush is doing it wrong because____________. And here's what we are going to do about it-_______________.
It's funny because just this week I was thinking of how sick and tired I was hearing about Cindy Sheehan and all the liberal activist groups who are exploiting her, and how no solutions are being offered through it all, only attacks upon President Bush. Then I read an excellent editorial by David Ignatius in the Washington Post.
Here is a clip:
So where are the Democrats amid this GOP disarray? Frankly, they are nowhere. They are failing utterly in the role of an opposition party, which is to provide a coherent alternative account of how the nation might solve its problems. Rather than lead a responsible examination of America's strategy for Iraq, they have handed off the debate to a distraught mother who is grieving for her lost son. Rather than address the nation's long-term fiscal problems, they have decided to play politics and let President Bush squirm on the hook of his unpopular plan to create private Social Security accounts.
Because they lack coherent plans for how to govern the country, the Democrats have become captive of the most shrill voices in the party, who seem motivated these days mainly by visceral dislike of George W. Bush. Sorry, folks, but loathing is not a strategy -- especially when much of the country finds the object of your loathing a likable guy.
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