How important is this year’s election? According to the Boston Globe, it’s the whole ball of wax.
A Democratic-led Congress could bury the last vestiges of Bush’s legislative agenda and subject the administration to high-profile investigations of the Iraq war, the CIA leak case, warrantless eavesdropping and other matters.
Tom DeLay felt the same way, and it’s one reason he decided not to run again. The point of the Globe story is how bad Bush’s numbers are now that people are getting sworn court documents that show he’s a vindictive (alert: sexist slang ahead) prick. But it also underscores how much our side has to lose if we don’t get our act together.
The AP-Ipsos survey is loaded with grim election-year news for a party struggling to stay in power. Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction — the largest percentage during the Bush presidency and up 13 points from a year ago.
“These numbers are scary. We’ve lost every advantage we’ve ever had,” GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said. “The good news is Democrats don’t have much of a plan.”
The thought of Howard Dean leading the charge for our team isn’t that reassuring to me. And the saying, “the election is his to lose” doesn’t help. If anyone can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, it’s Dr. Dean.
So what are we going to do? Let’s start with getting ourselves an education. There are some great books out there on what we need to do differently. “Start Making Sense” by the editors of Alternet; “Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots and the Rise of People-Powered Politics” by Jerome Armstrong, strategist for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, and Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitas Zuniga; “Gods Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It,” by Jim Wallis; “Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future” by James Carville and Paul Begala are just a few, and most of them are available at Buzzflash and other sites.
Next, if you’ve volunteered in a political campaign before, do it again. If not, make this the year you start. Look around and pick the non-Republican candidate you think has the best shot and throw your support (money, time, influence) to that person.
Yes, it’s an off-year. No, we’re not voting for a president this time. But something tells me the presidency is still at stake in this election, in a personal way for the current occupant of the position, and in a larger sense for our country. Don’t sit on the sidelines.
