Delay is not the Point... America Needs Leadership Now More than Ever

I hate to be a Progressive Party Pooper this week of all weeks, but something greatly concerns me with the underlying glee lurking beneath the solemn faces of Democrats pondering life after Tom Delay.
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Apologies to NBC News, but Now More Than Ever is the only phrase that comes to mind as I survey the mess our government is in and the need for leadership from the Democratic Party.

I hate to be a Progressive Party Pooper this week of all weeks, but something greatly concerns me with the underlying glee lurking beneath the solemn faces of Democrats pondering life after Tom Delay. The indictment of the corrupt leader that has punctured the air of arrogance among Republicans will certainly help Democrats negatively define our opponents in next year's elections. Every Democratic campaigner worth his or her salt will make sure the culture of corruption that has emerged among Republicans in Washington, DC will leave its stink on each member of the Grand Old Party who has to face voters next November. However, as we should have learned in the last presidential election, convincing voters that the Republicans ought to be fired is not enough to convince them to hire a Democrat instead.

On January 17, 2004, CBS News reported that 45% of Americans disapproved of George W. Bush's job as President – at that point his largest disapproval number ever http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/17/opinion/polls/main593849.shtml and just 41% said the President had the same priorities on the issues they did. Only 30% said he was more interested in protecting the interests of ordinary Americans than in protecting the interests of large corporations and 57% said things were worse then than before Bush was elected. Americans were clear that this President was not the best we could do, yet 10 months later, he won re-election by nearly 3 million votes.

Don't get me wrong, I am just as convinced as most other progressives that the Republicans have led this country down a ruinous path of budget deficits and strategically suspect and operationally disastrous war. They have wasted the four years since the horrific attacks of 9/11, leaving Osama bin Laden at large and since Katrina, proved we are little more prepared to handle catastrophe today than they were on September 10, 2001. In addition, President Bush has forsaken his responsibility to do anything to prepare our nation for the coming energy crisis lurking around the corner as the United States and Europe are joined by China and India in consuming as much oil as is available on the planet.

That said, Americans are crying out for leadership and it is time for Democrats to step up and offer the nation a consistent and coherent vision for tackling today's problems and tomorrows challenges. I know that Democrats offer creative ideas everyday in Congress but Americans do not know about them.

According to the September Pew Research Center poll http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=257, Americans agree with us on the issues, but Democrats are not winning Americans confidence in their leadership:

“Despite their issue advantages, Democratic leaders in Congress receive only a 36% job approval rating overall, the same rating given to their GOP counterparts. The low mark for Democratic leaders reflects significant dissatisfaction among their own partisans.”

While Republican leaders have a 72% approval rating from fellow Republicans, among Democrats that number is only 49%!

In an August 2005 Harris Poll http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=595 it was worse, with 65% of Americans rating Democrats as doing a fair or poor job.

To adapt a phrase from the movie Apollo 13, “Washington, we have a problem,” and no amount of Republican malfeasance will fix it. Democrats must step up to the plate and offer America an alternative or face the wrath of voters who are forced again to choose between bad ideas and no ideas.

I am ready to dance on Tom Delay's political grave right along with the next guy, but I look forward even more to dancing on Election Night next November if Democrats offer leadership and take back control of the Congress. Then we can begin to enact our own vision for protecting America from terrorists, improving schools and providing economic opportunity for everyone, not just Haliburton and the other Republican cronies -- once we figure out what that vision is.

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