Bernard Weiner: Dems need to SHARPEN UP to have a prayer in '06
Even when on the Liberal-Radical turf of an idealistic, environment-friendly college, Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire's speech to the graduating class of Evergreen College was full of DLC big-biz platitudes and generic, 'soft' proposals.
We here at C-dems.blgspt.com repeat yet again: Republicans WON CONTROL over ALL BRANCHES of the US government - House, Senate, White house, Supreme Court and federal judiciary, ALL executive agencies, and control over corporate America and the '4th Estate' press/media - by ATTACKING Democrats relentlessly, passionately, ferociously, for the past 2-dozen years. In the case of "Travel-gate,' 'Lincoln bedroom,' and 'White House trashing' 'scandal' and others so-called 'scandals,' THE REPUBLICANS CREATED SCANDALS OUT OF THIN AIR.
In doing so, they CONTROL THE MEDIA MESSAGE, and SUSTAIN SUPPORT for CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS of the Democrats in the White House or elsewhere.
By comparison, when a Republican White House has a truly juicy scandal involving sex and corruption - the White House accrediting Jeff Ganon (ne Jim Guckert) with a press-pass, despite his own web-site portraying the male prostitute displaying "his wares" in all their glory - the Democrats utterly FAIL to make an issue of it. No doubt, were a Democratic president to have a known male prostitute evade Secret Service investigation, receive press-accredation, and then be on the Secret Service log-books as having spent late hours in the White House long after the press had gone home, not only would the Republicans be shouting "SCANDAL!", but they would be shouting "CORRUPTION!" aas well.
By comparison, the Democrats STILL have not found out who attended the Cheney "SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE" in early 2001 (the one where we now know Cheney's "volunteer" energy executives rolled out a map of Iraq's oil fields and said "the only thing between us and these oil fields is Saddam's dilapidated military from a nation where a Baathist minority exerts brutal control over a Shia majority - we're going to sieze those oil fields if we have to start a war!")
By comparison, the Republicans tried to make a CRIME out of President Clinton's consensual affair, by laying a perjury trap (using ILLEGAL cooperation between government prosecutors and private lawyers filing a civil-trial lawsuit on behalf of Paula Jones) to force the president to testify under oath.
The Democrats couldn't even SUPPORT Patrick Fitzgerald's CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION and INDICTMENT of the Bush White House's "OUTING" of an ENTIRE UNDERCOVER CIA operation for political revenge and intimidation purposes, when the White House players have PUBLICLY ADMITTED THEIR CONVERSATIONS to media reporters in "outing" the CIA operative; and not only is Karl Rove now off the hook, but now the media and White House are ALREADY talking about PARDONING Lewis "Scooter" Libby for his role in A.) the criminal "outing" of a secret agency; and B.) the perjury and stonewall of that ensuing FBI criminal investigation.
IF the farm dog can't PROTECT the hen-house from raiding foxes, it is time to replace the watchdog.
IF the Democrats can't PROTECT America's vulnerable government workers from administration crimes and intimidation, they are COWERING from their DUTY and OBLIGATION to "protect the constitution of the United States."
If Dems. can't HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENCES between their party and a Republican party OUT OF CONTROL, then Dems do NOT deserve to become leaders, even if the nation is crying out for good leadership.
And if Dems. don't understand that they need to CONTROL_THE_MEDIA_MESSAGE, as Republicans can so easily do by creating false scandals when they need to, and COVERING UP real scandals when they must; then we Americans effectively DO NOT HAVE an opposition party.
Bernard Weiner is in the top 20 nationwide of commentators who understand that Democrats HAVE A CONSTITUTIOINAL OBLIGATION to EXPOSE the fraud and corruption of a rogue administration. Unfortunately, the corporate press/media prefers to hire and pay for "pundits" such as Howard Fineman, Christ Mathews, Tim Russert, Bill O'Reilly, Cal Thomas, Bob Novak, & etc., commentators whose job it is to pretend that the naked emperor is wearing clothes.
<< A competent advance team, speechwriter and governor would have known that Evergreen is the most progressive of all of Washington's state colleges, and would have tailored the commencement speech to that audience.
Instead, Gov. Gregoire's team outfitted her with a Republican-lite speech on the glories of globalization. She had been delivering this same address at a number of other college commencements that same week, and it came across as what it was: a generic speech (and a not very well-written one at that), a one-size-fits-all address that would have been more appropriate for a gathering of business types, or, at the very least, for a more conservative college in Eastern Washington. >>
(PS- as Mr. Bush and the Republican party make a cult-like obsession with EXPORTING US high-tech jobs oversees to China and India - the better to fatten the wallets of their corporate campaign donors - it is hard to believe that ANY Democrats ANYWHERE would applaud that agenda. Bill Clinton might have been accused of being a "Republican-lite" Democrat, but Clinton LOVED NOTHING MORE than to go into a community and seek to create jobs there; his signature "TARGETED INVESTMENTS" and economic stimulation in various economic and community sectors.)
============================================
A Graduation Report:
Dems Need to Sharpen Up
By Bernard Weiner
Co-Editor, The Crisis Papers
June 20, 2006
http://www.crisispapers.org/essays6w/graduation.htm
Last weekend, I was visiting my old Washington State stomping grounds -- I lived and taught in Bellingham back in the day -- to witness the graduation of my nephew from The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
Therein lies a tale, and not a hopeful one for Democrats in November and in 2008.
For the Democrats to win the upcoming midterm election, and the presidential election two years later, they must be, and must openly and consistently demonstrate that they are, street-smart and aggressively on point with their base and able to draw as well from the middle (Red Dawg Democrats, disaffected traditional and moderate Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, et al.).
But if Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire's commencement address to Evergreen's 2006 graduating class is any example of oppositional smarts, the GOP has little reason to worry about the upcoming elections. (Note: They sure do have plenty of other reasons to worry.)
Washingtonians told me that Gregoire is a centrist/liberal Democrat who is making good appointments and leading the state reasonably well. With those assets in her favor, here was a perfect opportunity for this sitting governor to make some friends and influence people. There were roughly several thousand graduates and perhaps three or four times that many family members there to celebrate with their diploma-earning students. As a politician, you salivate at being able to address such a potentially friendly, captive audience.
What a blown opportunity.
THE WRONG SPEECH AT THE WRONG PLACE
A competent advance team, speechwriter and governor would have known that Evergreen is the most progressive of all of Washington's state colleges, and would have tailored the commencement speech to that audience.
Instead, Gov. Gregoire's team outfitted her with a Republican-lite speech on the glories of globalization. She had been delivering this same address at a number of other college commencements that same week, and it came across as what it was: a generic speech (and a not very well-written one at that), a one-size-fits-all address that would have been more appropriate for a gathering of business types, or, at the very least, for a more conservative college in Eastern Washington.
And so for a half hour, the Evergreen audience sat on their hands, listening to political platitudes in this somewhat boring paean to the opportunities offered by globalization. The governor dully read her generic prose as prepared, seemingly oblivious to whom she was speaking. This despite Evergreen's lib/rad reputation and despite the protest organized against her appearance by a vocal group of activist students; about 50, wearing protest t-shirts, turned their backs on her during her address, while others unfurled banners against her welfare policies, or occasionally heckled her from trees near the stage.
Her desultory, DLC-like speech could just as well have been broadcast on a large TV monitor from a remote location. That's how removed it was from the reality of the thousands of visitors and graduates sitting in the sun (and occasional drizzle) in the Evergreen quad.
AN ANTI-GLOBALIZATION HOTBED
Am I suggesting that Gregoire shouldn't have spoken on that topic? Probably would have been a politically wise idea, but if she really wanted to address the issue of globalization, the governor and a savvy speechwriter would have recognized that some concession to her audience and to the complexity of that issue might have been appropriate.
After all, she was speaking in a bastion of anti-globalization, and that activism demanded that she offer some acknowledgment of the issues raised by those opposing free-market globalization on environmental and human-rights grounds. (Evergreen is a school devoted to environmental education, and an intelligent Democratic advance person would have known that and alerted the speechwriter accordingly.)
How often will similar scenarios be repeated around the country in the next five months and during the run-up to the 2008 election? Incompetent planning, inappropriate speeches, political gaffes, dull deliveries -- do the Democrats really want to remain a party in permanent exile from the reins of national power?
The Republicans may be badly riven by issues such as adventuring wars abroad, humongous deficits and a languid economy at home, aligning America with torture and the suppression of civil and human rights, massive government spying on U.S. citizens, etc. etc. But, under the tutelage of Herr Rove, they know how to run a campaign, illegal and unethical though many of their campaign tactics might be.
I'm not advocating that the Democrats ape the Republicans in how to steal elections through dirty tricks, kicking hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters off the rolls, manipulating the tallies, etc. Not at all.
LEARN HOW TO FIGHT THE BEAST
What I am suggesting is that the Democrats must recognize and study the success of the GOP's M.O., and then devise creative, effective counter-strategies; in short, our side has to be at least twice as efficient, passionate, clever, and dedicated to victory if we're to have any hope of taking down the corrupt, reckless, dangerous Bush crew at the top and thus of turning this country around.
That means forethought, planning, competence, smart thinking in terms of candidates, speeches, focus on issues, staying on-message, framing the issues correctly, massive campaigns to register new voters, pre-emptively going to court if need be to guarantee honest and transparent elections, and so on.
Can it be done? Is the Gregoire scenario noted above going to be the negative example of how uncertain, incompetent Democratic campaigns are going to be conducted? It could turn out that way, but let me end this rant on a positive note.
THE RIGHT KIND OF SPEECH
The speaker after Gov. Gregoire was one chosen by the faculty: Jose Gomez, J.D., who said he's been waiting for 50 years to deliver his public address, and it was a doozy. It connected his hardscrabble life -- eventually winding up working closely with Cesar Chavez on behalf of maltreated farm workers, and then with La Raza Legal Center -- with the challenges open to today's graduates.
Gomez showed how it was possible, and vitally important, for single individuals to make major differences in their own lives and the lives of others through sincere and dedicated commitment to honesty and social justice. The audience responded enthusiastically to his passionate speech, to his life story, to his urging the graduates to make a difference in their communities.
That's the kind of energized, focused, progressive policy and speechmaking the Democrats need to fire up their base, and to make us believe in the significant differences between the Democrats and the Republicans.
A huge slice of America is waiting to be energized and moved to action and support. The sooner the Democrats get their act together -- and Howard Dean's 50-state experiment may well pay off in this regard -- the easier it will be to generate the anti-GOP momentum necessary for November and for the race in 2008. Let's get to work.
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, taught at Western Washington University and in California, worked as a writer-editor with the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently is co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
We here at C-dems.blgspt.com repeat yet again: Republicans WON CONTROL over ALL BRANCHES of the US government - House, Senate, White house, Supreme Court and federal judiciary, ALL executive agencies, and control over corporate America and the '4th Estate' press/media - by ATTACKING Democrats relentlessly, passionately, ferociously, for the past 2-dozen years. In the case of "Travel-gate,' 'Lincoln bedroom,' and 'White House trashing' 'scandal' and others so-called 'scandals,' THE REPUBLICANS CREATED SCANDALS OUT OF THIN AIR.
In doing so, they CONTROL THE MEDIA MESSAGE, and SUSTAIN SUPPORT for CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS of the Democrats in the White House or elsewhere.
By comparison, when a Republican White House has a truly juicy scandal involving sex and corruption - the White House accrediting Jeff Ganon (ne Jim Guckert) with a press-pass, despite his own web-site portraying the male prostitute displaying "his wares" in all their glory - the Democrats utterly FAIL to make an issue of it. No doubt, were a Democratic president to have a known male prostitute evade Secret Service investigation, receive press-accredation, and then be on the Secret Service log-books as having spent late hours in the White House long after the press had gone home, not only would the Republicans be shouting "SCANDAL!", but they would be shouting "CORRUPTION!" aas well.
By comparison, the Democrats STILL have not found out who attended the Cheney "SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE" in early 2001 (the one where we now know Cheney's "volunteer" energy executives rolled out a map of Iraq's oil fields and said "the only thing between us and these oil fields is Saddam's dilapidated military from a nation where a Baathist minority exerts brutal control over a Shia majority - we're going to sieze those oil fields if we have to start a war!")
By comparison, the Republicans tried to make a CRIME out of President Clinton's consensual affair, by laying a perjury trap (using ILLEGAL cooperation between government prosecutors and private lawyers filing a civil-trial lawsuit on behalf of Paula Jones) to force the president to testify under oath.
The Democrats couldn't even SUPPORT Patrick Fitzgerald's CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION and INDICTMENT of the Bush White House's "OUTING" of an ENTIRE UNDERCOVER CIA operation for political revenge and intimidation purposes, when the White House players have PUBLICLY ADMITTED THEIR CONVERSATIONS to media reporters in "outing" the CIA operative; and not only is Karl Rove now off the hook, but now the media and White House are ALREADY talking about PARDONING Lewis "Scooter" Libby for his role in A.) the criminal "outing" of a secret agency; and B.) the perjury and stonewall of that ensuing FBI criminal investigation.
IF the farm dog can't PROTECT the hen-house from raiding foxes, it is time to replace the watchdog.
IF the Democrats can't PROTECT America's vulnerable government workers from administration crimes and intimidation, they are COWERING from their DUTY and OBLIGATION to "protect the constitution of the United States."
If Dems. can't HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENCES between their party and a Republican party OUT OF CONTROL, then Dems do NOT deserve to become leaders, even if the nation is crying out for good leadership.
And if Dems. don't understand that they need to CONTROL_THE_MEDIA_MESSAGE, as Republicans can so easily do by creating false scandals when they need to, and COVERING UP real scandals when they must; then we Americans effectively DO NOT HAVE an opposition party.
Bernard Weiner is in the top 20 nationwide of commentators who understand that Democrats HAVE A CONSTITUTIOINAL OBLIGATION to EXPOSE the fraud and corruption of a rogue administration. Unfortunately, the corporate press/media prefers to hire and pay for "pundits" such as Howard Fineman, Christ Mathews, Tim Russert, Bill O'Reilly, Cal Thomas, Bob Novak, & etc., commentators whose job it is to pretend that the naked emperor is wearing clothes.
<< A competent advance team, speechwriter and governor would have known that Evergreen is the most progressive of all of Washington's state colleges, and would have tailored the commencement speech to that audience.
Instead, Gov. Gregoire's team outfitted her with a Republican-lite speech on the glories of globalization. She had been delivering this same address at a number of other college commencements that same week, and it came across as what it was: a generic speech (and a not very well-written one at that), a one-size-fits-all address that would have been more appropriate for a gathering of business types, or, at the very least, for a more conservative college in Eastern Washington. >>
(PS- as Mr. Bush and the Republican party make a cult-like obsession with EXPORTING US high-tech jobs oversees to China and India - the better to fatten the wallets of their corporate campaign donors - it is hard to believe that ANY Democrats ANYWHERE would applaud that agenda. Bill Clinton might have been accused of being a "Republican-lite" Democrat, but Clinton LOVED NOTHING MORE than to go into a community and seek to create jobs there; his signature "TARGETED INVESTMENTS" and economic stimulation in various economic and community sectors.)
============================================
A Graduation Report:
Dems Need to Sharpen Up
By Bernard Weiner
Co-Editor, The Crisis Papers
June 20, 2006
http://www.crisispapers.org/essays6w/graduation.htm
Last weekend, I was visiting my old Washington State stomping grounds -- I lived and taught in Bellingham back in the day -- to witness the graduation of my nephew from The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
Therein lies a tale, and not a hopeful one for Democrats in November and in 2008.
For the Democrats to win the upcoming midterm election, and the presidential election two years later, they must be, and must openly and consistently demonstrate that they are, street-smart and aggressively on point with their base and able to draw as well from the middle (Red Dawg Democrats, disaffected traditional and moderate Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, et al.).
But if Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire's commencement address to Evergreen's 2006 graduating class is any example of oppositional smarts, the GOP has little reason to worry about the upcoming elections. (Note: They sure do have plenty of other reasons to worry.)
Washingtonians told me that Gregoire is a centrist/liberal Democrat who is making good appointments and leading the state reasonably well. With those assets in her favor, here was a perfect opportunity for this sitting governor to make some friends and influence people. There were roughly several thousand graduates and perhaps three or four times that many family members there to celebrate with their diploma-earning students. As a politician, you salivate at being able to address such a potentially friendly, captive audience.
What a blown opportunity.
THE WRONG SPEECH AT THE WRONG PLACE
A competent advance team, speechwriter and governor would have known that Evergreen is the most progressive of all of Washington's state colleges, and would have tailored the commencement speech to that audience.
Instead, Gov. Gregoire's team outfitted her with a Republican-lite speech on the glories of globalization. She had been delivering this same address at a number of other college commencements that same week, and it came across as what it was: a generic speech (and a not very well-written one at that), a one-size-fits-all address that would have been more appropriate for a gathering of business types, or, at the very least, for a more conservative college in Eastern Washington.
And so for a half hour, the Evergreen audience sat on their hands, listening to political platitudes in this somewhat boring paean to the opportunities offered by globalization. The governor dully read her generic prose as prepared, seemingly oblivious to whom she was speaking. This despite Evergreen's lib/rad reputation and despite the protest organized against her appearance by a vocal group of activist students; about 50, wearing protest t-shirts, turned their backs on her during her address, while others unfurled banners against her welfare policies, or occasionally heckled her from trees near the stage.
Her desultory, DLC-like speech could just as well have been broadcast on a large TV monitor from a remote location. That's how removed it was from the reality of the thousands of visitors and graduates sitting in the sun (and occasional drizzle) in the Evergreen quad.
AN ANTI-GLOBALIZATION HOTBED
Am I suggesting that Gregoire shouldn't have spoken on that topic? Probably would have been a politically wise idea, but if she really wanted to address the issue of globalization, the governor and a savvy speechwriter would have recognized that some concession to her audience and to the complexity of that issue might have been appropriate.
After all, she was speaking in a bastion of anti-globalization, and that activism demanded that she offer some acknowledgment of the issues raised by those opposing free-market globalization on environmental and human-rights grounds. (Evergreen is a school devoted to environmental education, and an intelligent Democratic advance person would have known that and alerted the speechwriter accordingly.)
How often will similar scenarios be repeated around the country in the next five months and during the run-up to the 2008 election? Incompetent planning, inappropriate speeches, political gaffes, dull deliveries -- do the Democrats really want to remain a party in permanent exile from the reins of national power?
The Republicans may be badly riven by issues such as adventuring wars abroad, humongous deficits and a languid economy at home, aligning America with torture and the suppression of civil and human rights, massive government spying on U.S. citizens, etc. etc. But, under the tutelage of Herr Rove, they know how to run a campaign, illegal and unethical though many of their campaign tactics might be.
I'm not advocating that the Democrats ape the Republicans in how to steal elections through dirty tricks, kicking hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters off the rolls, manipulating the tallies, etc. Not at all.
LEARN HOW TO FIGHT THE BEAST
What I am suggesting is that the Democrats must recognize and study the success of the GOP's M.O., and then devise creative, effective counter-strategies; in short, our side has to be at least twice as efficient, passionate, clever, and dedicated to victory if we're to have any hope of taking down the corrupt, reckless, dangerous Bush crew at the top and thus of turning this country around.
That means forethought, planning, competence, smart thinking in terms of candidates, speeches, focus on issues, staying on-message, framing the issues correctly, massive campaigns to register new voters, pre-emptively going to court if need be to guarantee honest and transparent elections, and so on.
Can it be done? Is the Gregoire scenario noted above going to be the negative example of how uncertain, incompetent Democratic campaigns are going to be conducted? It could turn out that way, but let me end this rant on a positive note.
THE RIGHT KIND OF SPEECH
The speaker after Gov. Gregoire was one chosen by the faculty: Jose Gomez, J.D., who said he's been waiting for 50 years to deliver his public address, and it was a doozy. It connected his hardscrabble life -- eventually winding up working closely with Cesar Chavez on behalf of maltreated farm workers, and then with La Raza Legal Center -- with the challenges open to today's graduates.
Gomez showed how it was possible, and vitally important, for single individuals to make major differences in their own lives and the lives of others through sincere and dedicated commitment to honesty and social justice. The audience responded enthusiastically to his passionate speech, to his life story, to his urging the graduates to make a difference in their communities.
That's the kind of energized, focused, progressive policy and speechmaking the Democrats need to fire up their base, and to make us believe in the significant differences between the Democrats and the Republicans.
A huge slice of America is waiting to be energized and moved to action and support. The sooner the Democrats get their act together -- and Howard Dean's 50-state experiment may well pay off in this regard -- the easier it will be to generate the anti-GOP momentum necessary for November and for the race in 2008. Let's get to work.
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, taught at Western Washington University and in California, worked as a writer-editor with the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently is co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
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