It's over. We lost.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, folks, but we've gone from refighting the battles of 1968 to refighting the battles of 1980. The right-wing seems fixated on refighting the battles of 1992, but we'll get to that another time. Right now, it's time for a wake up call.
It's over. We lost.
Jimmy Carter lost to Reagan in 1980. Reagan cloaked a reactionary conservative message in a message of optimism and change. He won the message battle so effectively that in 1984, he won a massive 49 state landslide victory. And he did so because he convinced many Democrats to support him.
Somehow that message got lost because a lot of us are too interested in playing "gotcha" politics and focusing on the past rather than the problems that face us today.
Coalitions are important, because they help build the majority to fundamentally change things. When you start operating on bad faith, that's when things stall. That's when nothing gets done. You don't need much proof of that beyond the last eight years.
I understand the temptation to fight back. I really do. When you've been beaten and bullied by fearmongering reactionaries for near three decades, it's hard to think of any other option but to fight back. And you know what? Fighting back is necessary sometimes. When they engage in a partisan witchhunt of a sitting president. When they call us traitors and cowards. When they smear the war record of a decorated hero. But here's where we went off the rails: You've stopped fighting the politicians. Now you're fighting the voters.
Because Barack Obama is talking about uniting the country again. The Republicans are foaming at the mouth trying to divide us. To drive a wedge between us. To use fear to win. Again.
And what has the reaction of this community been, for the most part? Obama's compromising. He's conciliatory. He's talking like Joe Lieberman. He's not one of us.
There is a difference between Rush Limbaugh and a Republican who voted for George W. Bush twice because he felt he was a "regular guy," or maybe really believed in the war in Iraq at the time. There's a difference between Sean Hannity and the Republican voter who didn't see a compelling reason to cross party lines to vote for John Kerry. There's a difference between Joe Lieberman and a working-class Democrat who voted for Reagan in 1984.
You want those voters back? You start operating on good faith. You don't make voters feel stupid for voting for Bush. Everyone but the dead-enders know how lousy a President he is right now. No one has to be told that they made a mistake voting for the man. If we reach out to them, they will vote for us in November.
But those same voters won't be happy to hear a candidate who attacks Ronald Reagan. Part of the beauty of the Republican obsession with the Gipper right now is that none of them have an ounce of the political skill he possessed. They pale in comparison to Reagan among the GOP faithful right now. Many Republicans - dissatisfied with the Bush administration - might give the Democrat a chance, if we give them a compelling reason to do so.
And if we do it right, we're going to win over voters across the aisle to build a coalition greater than the Reagan coalition, rivaling the New Deal coalition in its ability to create real and lasting change.
I can't settle for the same old battles. Not when we've got the opportunity for so much more.