Ah, another election year is upon us. Another election that George Bush, despite a poor track record and sizable complaints even among other Republicans, is probably going to win.
It's not because people want to vote for him and it's not because people don't want to vote for Kerry. It's because they don't want to be associated with the sort of people who see this election as an issue of Bush / Not Bush, because these people are acting like jerks.
Think back about three months ago, when MoveOn.org was in the height of its campaign against George Bush's reelection. Do you remember whose image was juxtaposed with our dumb president? Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler was quite possibly the worst madman in history. His manipulation of his country's racist and nationalistic tendencies lead to the invasion of half of Europe and the murder of millions of jews, homosexuals, gypsies and communists. Bush's campaigns aren't anything remotely like Hitler's, neither in scale nor in impetus. Comparing the two is not only ludicrous, it's an embarassing evocation of Godwin's Law.
I know MoveOn.org wasn't responsible for this video. The Democratic Party wasn't responsible for it. And yet, they never distanced themselves from it, either. This is a problem -- unless you make a solid differentiation between radical agenda and the party's real platform, outsiders will assume the two are the same.
Both sides of the coin -- right and left -- are full of idealistic nutjobs who want the world to shut up and be the way they want it to be. What I don't think these folks realize is how negatively their activities reflect on their side. When I hear about abortion opponents killing doctors and attempting to ruin lives, I, as a moderate, find myself siding with the pro-choice people even though I personally don't like abortion. Their arguments seem, well, crazy, and I don't want to be associated with it. Similarly, when I hear about environmental groups setting fire to SUV dealerships (hey assholes: they're insured. they'll just get reimbursed and rebuild and sell Hummers again. all you did was release toxic chemicals into the environment), I find myself wondering why I'm writing this check to the Sierra club.
It is impossible to acheive real change when the most vocal forces on your "side" are making inexplicable claims and calling for impractical solutions. Real change takes time, care and constant vigilance. We're not going to snap our fingers and instantly have world peace, decent jobs, a clean environment and so on. I believe John Kerry knows this, judging from his voting record. The man has changed his mind, damnit. That means a lot. It means he doesn't act like most politicians, voting with his party regardless of the particulars. He looks at the big picture and sometimes votes for things because they'll improve things, not because they'll perfect things. For example, Kerry voted for the No Child Left Behind act, even though he harshly criticizes it. Does that make him a hippocrite? I don't think so. I have a Verizon cell phone and I think it sucks...but they're still better than all of the other cell phone providers in the area.
So, Kerry's alright for a politician. I voted for him in the primaries and was real excited he won. But look at who's supporting him now: a bunch of crazies. Not because he's a sensible politician who does what's best, but because he's Not Bush.
Listen assholes. You are not going to convince anybody new that Bush is a liar, or a killer, or a cheat, or an idiot. Everybody who is going to believe that believes it already. What we need to do now, if we want Kerry to win this thing, is to convince the people who aren't already Bush haters that Kerry is a sound candidate who isn't going to sell America to the special interests, isn't going to tax us into oblivion, isn't going to be "soft" on terrorism and isn't going to pull us out of Iraq and risk ours and that country's safety. The Democrats have a great track record here, they just need to get the word out.
Your big protest of the Republican convention isn't going to do that. Your hacking of websites isn't going to do that. All these headgames and questioning of war records isn't going to do that. We need to stifle our outrage for the next four months and focus on the goal: make Kerry seem approachable and sensible. Make the Democratic party seem like something anybody can join without having to buy in to a laundry list of accusations and conspiracy theories. And turn this into a real "Kerry v. Bush election," instead of "A bunch of crazy liberals against Bush." We don't have to convince people that Bush lied about the war in Iraq, we just have to convince them that he's too reactive a strategist to effectively defend us against so agile a foe as international terrorism. This will attract the people who aren't ready to throw GWB out of the game, but would maybe like to see somebody else pitch the next few innings against those left-handed terrorists.
We can't wait for the debates (which Kerry will surely win, he's an awesome orator, that's what attracted me to him in the primaries). We need to assert our position early, and we need to decide as a unified force to comb our hair, straighten our shirts, polish our birkenstocks and leave the radical attitude at Rockaway Beach. You can't fight stoicism with passion and expect to win -- ain't you motherfuckers ever seen Crossfire?
Posted by das at August 27, 2004 11:29 AM | TrackBack