Have the Democrats Gone From Merely Chaos to Entropy?

How can we make any sense out of
what’s happening in the Democratic Party?

And where to we go from here?.

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Last week, Howard Dean, the New Hampshire anti-war presidential candidate and now Chairman of the Democratic Party, said, as he raised hackles all over the place, that we may have to stay in Iraq for another year or two. Amidst Dean’s remarks, Senator Joseph Lieberman, polarized most Democrats by supporting Bush’s policy and recognizing Bush’s supremacy in calling the shots. “He is our president for the next three years,” he spouted much to the bewildered expressions of other Democrats. Not to be outdone, Nancy Pelosi countered as did Democratic Leader Harry Reid. Senator Edwards, former presidential candidate, admitted that he was wrong supporting the War while presidential candidate Kerry said that he had been “mislead” by the president. He has since come out saying that he would not have supported the War if he had had known what he knows now.

Hillary seemed to recognize that the entire issue is a sticky wicket and waffled on the subject saying very little except sending out an email to 1,600 hundred on her database admitting that she, too, was mislead by the information provided to congress suggesting that there was a real threat of WMD.

Are you confused yet? What do we make out of all of these divergent points of view? Has the democratic party become unglued? Is the party imploding? Or possibly even dissolving from a kind of chaos into entropy? Or is there something else going on here? Yes, while all of these possibilities are possible and even probable; there is another point of view that suggests what we could be experiencing is a party trying to find its core, a party yet unsure of what it wants to be and where it wants to go when it grows up. To make matters worse, this confusion is aided and abetted by another consideration: Ambition. Ambition is causing everyone to be very careful and very deliberate in what they say knowing that this election will afford the Democrats the very best opportunity they’ve had to make a significant comeback. The Party’s leaders are already salivating at the prospect of the mid-terms in view of all of the bad publicity that has come out of late re the Republican Party.

It is easy, however, to assume the posture that even if the party does nothing, it will inherit the presidency almost automatically. Bad thinking! The fact of the matter is that people have little patience for what they see going on with the Republicans, yet the polls show that they are not yet ready to support a party that does not have its positions spelled out.

What the people have to understand is that right now, political office holders are looking for ways to advance themselves and their interests. Take the case of Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman’s arguments would seem to represent the extreme democratic point of view until you begin to think about political opportunism. Among a number of democratic activists, the view is that Lieberman’s stand on the Iraq war stems more from political opportunism than any genuine heart-felt belief. There are even trial balloons of him being floated as a replacement for Donald Rumsfeld who claims that he has no imminent plans to vacate his current job.


If Lieberman’s motives are personal rather than conviction, he will serve as less of a counterweight and more of an obstructionist in his own party. At some point, do not be surprised if Lieberman jumps ship to join the side that he already seems more simpatico with.

What else can we discern from the facts? It is true that senators Kerry and Hillary Clinton were never given complete information that the president was privy to prior to the declaration of war and the subsequent invasion. It is true that they were led to believe that that Saddam possessed WMD and represented a serious threat to America’s safety and well-being. It is also true, that the candidates are taking advantage of preconceived ‘wiggle-room’ to avoid current and future charges by the ‘left’ of being pro-War—positions that might not serve either’s goals should each decide to make a run in 2008. All of this, of course, falls under the category of pre-Election maneuvering. .

Despite all of the hedging on the War and other issues, one man has emerged as a spokesperson for Iraq and that’s John Murtha a veteran of Foreign Wars and a veteran of Congress who is widely known and respected by his peers—a hard-eyed, no=nonsense politician who enjoys an easy relationship with key military planners. His anti-war stance has set Congress rocking!

Why has this normally low-profile democrat come forward to voice his views?…

With the president’s ratings in the 40% favorable range, the once wide-spread support he enjoyed for the War seems to have dried up. The military chiefs have also voiced displeasure over the civilian conduct of the war issuing from the Pentagon. Clearly, the military cannot sustain the present troop levels without changing current policy. And although, superficially, military quotas have been met, for the most part, it has meant leaving special military occupational specialties either unfilled or unfilled with less than qualified staff. This flies in the face of the Pentagon’s belief that war can be conducted with fewer feet on the ground which in itself is predicated on technology taking the place of foot-soldiers. Amidst these fundamental contradictions, it seems that the military is headed for trouble if this conflict persists at the current level.

For these and other reasons, Representative Murtha took the initiative urging that America send its troops home and end the US government’s exercise in futility in Iraq.

Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leader Reed both have lined up solidly in support of Representative Murtha’s position; but do they represent the rest of the democratic party?
To be a viable party, make no mistake about it, the democrats will have to step forward with a clear, consistent and coherent vision that will grab the imagination of the American people.

Right now, other issues are pressing and the Democrats are conspicuously absent in attempts to fill the vacuum. On the other hand, the president has been bullish in trying to convince the rest of us that we are seeing a re-invigorated economy that is performing well and is well-positioned for the future. With the advantage of being able to use the “bully pulpit” for his own party’s ends, the president has taken the position that while he has made mistakes, the economy is surpassing projections!...

In fact, it seems as GWBush is trying to do Polyanna one better. With the exception of perhaps the top 10% that is not what the rest of us are seeing and raises many critical questions over the conduct of the economy. Most people tend to see the “off-shoring” of good, decent paying jobs as having had a deleterious effect on the domestic economy. . They are concerned about finding good and steady work. They are conflicted by rising costs and concerns that quality of life issues are looming out of control. They point to misleading job figures that on first blush seem convincing but on analyis reveal that they are some of the worst figures recorded on emerging from a recession in the last half century. .

Moreover, it has been revealed that most of the jobs created are being filled by migrant workers which lends weight to the suggestion by democratic leaders that these emergent jobs are for the most part seasonal and low paying. What seems like a positive unemployment rate moreover fails to consider all of those who have simply given up the search for a new job or whose benefits have run out.

If Democrats want to be taken seriously as a party they must present a united front against what the Republicans are passing off as a fait accompli, harnessing their profoundly sophisticated media mill to reinforce more stories like we are already hearing while the middle class bears the brunt of the changes they have pushed through to benefit the top wage earners.

With the day of reckoning fast approaching, democrats must come together in common cause to wield and shape a party a new party that is committed full tilt to what America is all about, freedom and saving the Middle Class…

Les Aaron