– SCARBOROUGH – Given what Democrats, be they moderates, liberals or progressives, are up against — an absolute and clearly declared war on President Obama and his policies — I have to ask what the party is doing in response.

The billionaires that make the millionaire talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck possible don’t care what happens to the economy; they are going to make Obama and his programs — which the people both want and need — fail.

They know they cannot let Obama succeed in the way FDR did. The don’t want to have successful programs like Obama’s health care reform or financial regulation reform around 50 years from now like FDR’s successful programs such as Social Security and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

They know that if they don’t kill those programs and the administration that created them now, they too will be around for a long time because they help so many people — those who former Republican Sen. Allen Simpson likes to call “the lesser people.”

What is the matter with my fellow Democrats? The president we elected at the most difficult time in this country since the Civil War has, against a stone wall of Republican resistance (save for an occasional sensible vote by our two moderate — and now targeted — Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins):

n Saved us from complete financial collapse and another Great Depression.

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n Signed health care and financial reform legislation.

n Fostered credit card and college loan reforms.

n Ended combat operations in Iraq.

n Appointed two women to the U.S. Supreme Court.

n And restored diplomacy to its rightful role in foreign policy.

And still we don’t like this guy; we find him aloof, intellectual, cool. How about smart and hard-working? He is a former legislator who knows how to get things done. How quickly we have forgotten that America was on the ropes when we repudiated Republican policies and elected Obama.

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We should be dancing in the streets — especially after eight years of the most incompetent administration and criminal cabal of privatizers and privateers this country has ever seen!

Maybe my fellow Democrats are just taking a breather. Maybe we are suffering from success fatigue (who knew?)

But if we don’t show up in November in the same numbers, or more, that we did in 2008 and send the tea partiers, birthers, libertarians and radical and religious right-wing Republicans back to the showers, we are going to deserve what we get.

We could rewrite history here. We could have an off-year breakout. We could win more seats in the Senate and have a real filibuster-proof majority.

We could change this country for real, for better and forever. We could demonstrate that this country belongs to all the people, not just the folks who confuse wearing a flag pin and a crucifix with being a patriot.

But not if we don’t get our heads out of our duffle bags and vote. Don’t be conned by so-called independents. Support Democratic candidates, contribute to the Democratic Party. Become informed. Get involved. And above all, show up and vote. It’s free!

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Perhaps above all, be patient. The United States wasn’t almost destroyed in a day. The right went to school after Barry Goldwater’s defeat in 1964 and took 16 years to win the presidency and 28 more to wreak their havoc. We the people have taken the country back.

Let’s keep it awhile.

 

 


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