A Stupid Truth

The political calculation here is way off. Sometimes, I think the 2006 election, weren't the dawn of a new, brighter era in American politics but a brief parting in the stormclouds. The merest hint of a return to sanity before we plunged even deeper into the swirling winds.

That it might have been different, might have been better, after all, had the Democrats lost. If they couldn't win that election, with all the political gifts they'd been handed, then they couldn't win any. A stake would have been driven through the party as it collapsed. Slowly but surely. Giving way to a new party. One that might be actually in opposition to the status quo. One that would understand the need to fight, not sit on the fence, on the defining issues of our time. But, no, the Democrats were given new life in 2006. Seem primed for success in '08. And now we're stuck with the same timid, trembling bunch so beholden to the consultants and polls. And who are so intransigent on the Iraq war. And posts like the ones I've linked to don't help me feel any better about it.

That calculation should also include the growing frustration with all the foot dragging. The Democrats got their slim majority on the strength of one issue last election. And now they're failing to get anything done about it. Any kind of halo effect is based on the possibility of the war ending. The fear was that the Republicans would stalemate and then shift at the last moment to grab all the credit for "bringing our boys home". They couldn't because their ravenous base would tear them apart. They're so invested in being right about the war, so preoccupied with carrying water for the Bush administration that they can't turn aside now. But the central part of those estimations was always that the troops would, one day, be coming back home. That someone would be stopping the awful bloodletting and getting them out of harm's way.

That hasn't happened. And I'm pissed about it. I know plenty of other people are to. And while most of our anger is properly directed at the administration and the minority that's manage to stall and dither their way straight into this mess, there's plenty left over for the leaders who've failed to deliver. Failed to fight their hardest, to pull out every stop, resort to every trick, to at least try. Because, at the moment, it looks like they're not. And if it's because they're looking for some kind of electoral advantage, well, they might find it to be perilously fleeting. Delivering results, on the other hand. Doing the right thing to stand up for what you believe. Even if you lose a fight or two along the way. Well, that's what's going to last.