| I viewed this as the last chance prior to the 2010 mid-term elections for Democrats to stand behind a policy that resonates strongly with people, including their base. We keep hearing how the Democratic base has to come out and vote this November, or else incredibly terrible things will happen.
Up until now, enough of the base has projected their displeasure that 2008 campaign promises meant less than the wishes of corporations continuing to earn record profits that even Dem strategists and pundits noticed.
Here's the crux as I see it. People have a hard time mustering emotion to avoid an abstract, potential threat sometime down the road. The best example I can come up with is global warming. I think we can all agree that more action would be taken if bad, global warming related things were happening today to Americans. People have a much easier time planning their actions based on past events.
If Democrats wanted their base to show up this year, they have to do better than punting on the tax issue again and again. They could have spent any or all of the past 20 months explaining why the rich's tax giveaways had to come to an end. Instead, they spent almost no time on the issue and are now, once again, running away from the Cons who have understood the importance of framing for decades.
I doubt this highly visible act of political cowardice will go unnoticed by the Democratic base. It helps to cement in peoples' minds the lack of Democratic leadership and moral integrity to act on today's pressing issues. The base won't cheerlead this decision. |
