Take Us to Your Leader: Dems could use one, and an agenda, by fall

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

“Newt Gingrich, the architect of the 1994 GOP takeover of the House, advised the Democrats to run the fall campaign on one simple slogan: ‘Had enough?’ Cool heads among the party's strategists recognize that basing a strategy on voter disgust with the GOP is pretty shaky. Democrats need to give voters something to vote for, instead of merely someone to vote against.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The problem is not that Democrats don't offer something to vote for. The problem is that Democrats do such a poor job of enunciating just what it is that they stand for.

Democrats need their own "Contract with America" and may still come up with something before this fall's elections. The famous 1994 Republican "Contract with America" was not revealed until late in that mid-term election. Democrats should be able to craft a compelling message around a whole host of issues that President Bush and the Republican Congress have stumbled on so badly in recent years. For example...

• homeland security -- ports, chemical plants, infrastructure
• disaster preparedness -- public health, first responders
• energy independence -- conservation, alternative energy development
• environmental responsibility
• worker rights - minimum wage rise, job protection and creation
• protection of Social Security and private pensions
• affordable health care
• investment in education
• restoration of international alliances and extrication from Iraq
• crackdown on corporate corruption

Whether the Democrats get their act together enough to agree on some basic principles in these areas remains to be seen. Democrats have not recently shown particular skill in organization, discipline, or communication. I've seen nothing yet to tell me that the 2006 election will be any different.