Send the Democrats back to 1994

What really gets under my skin is hearing Republicans say the Democrats only criticize and offer no solutions. The reason it gets under my skin is they’re kinda right.

Don’t get me wrong – the current administration and its Congressional lapdogs are doing just about everything wrong and deserve plenty of criticism. But these days, that just isn’t enough.

You see, amidst the seemingly endless parade of failures, the Bushies did a few things very, very well. One of them was to scare the crap out of the American public. They trotted out the old Cold War communist – behind – every – bush handbook and just did a global search and replace, trading “communist” for “terrorist.”

Now that people are all so skeered they dasn’t get too far from the bathroom, it’s no time to be fuzzy. A disapproving cluck, a vague wave of the hand, and a chorus of “We can do better” just won’t do it. People want real, solid plans. If you insist the Bushies are doing it wrong, you have to tell the nation just exactly how you are going to do it right.

Make a nice list. Point by point. Issue by issue. Identify a problem, then be specific as to what you’re going to do to fix it. You can start with Jack Murtha’s plan for Iraq. It’s a fine plan. More to the point, it’s the only one that’s been offered.

Once you’ve made your list, step back and look at it with squinty eyes and a testy attitude. Ask yourself, will you really do all these things you’re promising? If you do, will they really make the world better? More importantly, can promising them get your party back into office?

Well, it’s been tried. The issues were exaggerated, distorted and flat out lied about. The solutions offered were cures worse than the diseases. But it was a tidy, nice looking list. And it gave the illusion of Very Serious People Doing Very Serious Busines. And it worked. Oh, yes, it worked.

Originally posted on the blog that shall not be named February 2, 2006.