It's a good thing hardly anyone ever watches the opposition's response to the president's State of the Union address, because the vacuum of leadership and ideology in the Democratic Party was never better illustrated than last Wednesday night.
Following an ambitious speech from the unsubtle but always accessible President Bush, the Democratic response featured House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and new Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. By almost all accounts, Pelosi and Reid are capable leaders and well-liked by their congressional colleagues. They are also among the most flat, colorless and untelegenic people in the party.
Part of the reason for their failure to connect was that they were attempting to deliver not a response but a mini-State of the Union, complete with clich??s and generalizations. They seemed oblivious to the reality that soaring rhetoric doesn't come across quite as well from a small, quiet room as it does from the rostrum of the House of Representatives in front of the nation and 600 cheering people.
Continuing in the Democratic pattern of the 2004 campaign, Pelosi and Reid provided neither specific rebuttals to Bush's proposals nor any substantive proposals of their own. Charlie Cook of National Journal hit the nail on the head when he said, \It's ironic that the Democratic Party is taking so many hits for being the party of trial lawyers yet seems unable to make a convincing case of its own.""
In this sense, the party has two needs: a good lawyer and a good case.
Progress can be seen on the former with the election of Howard Dean as chair of the Democratic National Committee. Dean is miles ahead of Pelosi and Reid when it comes to criticizing Bush and articulating Democratic alternatives on television. Like few other politicians besides John McCain, Dean speaks like he believes what he's saying and appears to be doing more than regurgitating talking points.
A leader with this kind of genuine quality is exactly what Democrats need to remind them of how much can be achieved by, as McCain would say, ""straight talking"" with the American people. Dean isn't the permanent cure-all, but he is a formidable party builder and a far more appealing Democratic spokesman than Pelosi, Reid, Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer or John Kerry.
As for the latter, it's vital to understand that the Democrats' 2004 loss was not for lack of grassroots mobilization. It was for lack of any clear reason why they should be in power.
Democrats need to take time to examine the real state of the union and figure out exactly what they would do differently from the Republicans if they were in charge. How about an economy based on comprehensive education as opposed to tax cuts for the wealthy? How about new tax incentives for corporations to keep jobs in America instead of outsourcing them? How about a foreign policy that emphasizes working with second and third-world countries to promote prosperity and democracy instead of ignoring them until genocide breaks out or a devastating tsunami hits?
Democrats must formulate alternative ideas strong enough to go head-to-head with Republican ideas, and they must package them so voters can understand the underlying values that go with them. The New Deal, the New Frontier, the Great Society and the Contract with America weren't successful simply as collections of policy proposals. Rather, the policies represented the respective party's notion of what an America under its administration would look like and what values would influence its leaders' decisions on which policies to implement. In other words, in order to build a new progressive movement, the Democratic Party must not only have ideas but vision, and it must convince voters that its vision would make for a better America than the one currently run by the Republicans.
Unfortunately, judging from last week's performance by the top two Democratic officeholders in the country, Democrats appear to have neither ideas nor vision right now. They better get some soon. True, progress is being made with Dean in charge of the DNC and distinguished names like Russ Feingold and Barack Obama being floated as future standard-bearers. But even having the perfect standard-bearer won't do any good if there's no standard to bear.
Nick Barbash is a sophomore majoring in political science and international studies. He can be reached at opinion@dailycardinal.com. His column runs every Thursday in The Daily Cardinal.
