Have Democrats found their voice and if so what took them so long?
Sometimes it takes a good kick in the butt (like in November 2010) to wake you up. Sometimes you need competition from the other side and to even lose big to realize that you are in a and you either have to play and step up or you can get wiped out.
I don’t think Democratic intensity is back because Americans and the party base, has concluded that they were wrong. And the Democratic Party is truly great and we should’ve been behind them all the way. I’m a Democrat because I believe in progressive Democratic values and liberal democracy, not because I’m in love with party and neither are most American voters.
2009-10 Democrats had all the power, White House and Congress. They inherited a lot from the Bush Administration to deal with, not just the Great Recession. Independent voters didn’t like how they handled it and didn’t like the health care reform debate that led to the Affordable Care Act becoming law that I still support.
The Democratic Far-Left flank didn’t think the Democratic Leadership was moving fast enough or of course far enough to the left. So they decided not to show up and vote in the mid term elections. Along with the Republican Leadership in Congress in both Chambers as well as their allies being united against Democrats at every term, hoping they would fail and bring them back in power. All this plus other things, adds up to a poisonous pot that led Democrats losing 1/3 of their power in Washington, the House of Representatives.
Now that the House GOP Leadership has discovered its agenda (which at risk of sounding partisan as a Democrat) which is basically to tear down or privatize the safety net in America, Democrats and their allies of course are against that as well as American voters who either like the safety net or benefit from it and now have turned against the House GOP Leadership, where Speaker Boehner is currently enjoying a 28% approval rating.
The Democratic voice as of right now is defending the safety net and preventing it from being dismantled and taking that out on the House GOP. And forcing the Senate GOP to take a stand on the House GOP agenda in the Senate where Democrats are still in majority.
The Democratic path back to power in the House right now is to defend the safety net and only offer an alternative vision when called upon. Which they hope will lead them to the President being reelected and keeping the control of the Senate. We’ll see if it works.
“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), in a fiery speech, rejects the Paul Ryan budget and the attempt to privatize Social Security and Medicare.”
Source:CSPAN– U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Democratic Socialist, Socialist Republic of Vermont) talking about U.S. Representative Paul Ryan’s (Republican, Wisconsin) plan to reform Medicare.
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