So, this is hardly a surprise. In this economy, everybody's trying to keep their jobs. Even guys like Parker Griffith.
POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he's switching parties to become a Republican.
[...]
Griffith's party switch comes on the eve of a pivotal congressional health care vote and will send a jolt through a Democratic House Caucus that has already been unnerved by the recent retirements of a handful of members who, like Griffith, hail from districts that offer prime pickup opportunities for the GOP in 2010.
[...]
The switch represents a coup for the House Republican leadership, which had been courting Griffith since he publicly criticized the Democratic leadership in the wake of raucous town halls during the summer.
At some point, Parker Griffith will stand up with orange-faced Oompah Loompah John Boehner and get a big ol' slap on the back for the "courage" to change parties.
The same slap on the back Arlen Specter got when he saw the writing on the wall, and switched parties to keep his clout... Griffith did what I'm sure a handful of conservative "Democrats" are considering... changing their "D" to an "R" so they don't have to change their "Employed" to "Unemployed" in 2010.
Let's face it: In certain districts, the "mandate" was more about being sick of Bush/Cheney than it was enthusiasm for Obama. And in these states, these Democrat representatives are only Democrats because they were slightly to the left of the guy who was really to the right.
And in 2010, that's probably not going to be enough. Disillusioned progressives will more than likely stay home. And annoyed tea partiers will be screaming their heads off and filling their trucks and mini-vans with like minded people wearing stupid hats and dressed like it's 1776.
So guys like Griffith have one of three choices:
* Appeal to their voters that they are a moderating voice within the Democratic party with no proof they were able to do that.
* Retire, and be irrelevant.
* Switch parties, and suddenly become the prettiest girl at the prom.
In the end, the part that gets me isn't the loss of a "Democrat." Griffith isn't a Democrat anymore than Schwartzennegger is a Republican.
It doesn't even bother me that he can see the 2010 writing on the wall, and is doing everything he can to keep his job. It's a tad bit transparent, but I get it.
What I find sad, and cynical, is that this guy is essentially saying things will not be better by 2012. He's peering into the future and saying that Obama - as the "leader" of the Democratic party - will have zero coattails to ride on based on performance.
He's betting his job on the idea the economy will still be in the tank, and unemployment will still be double-digit. That things will be no better. That is the spirit of Griffith's shift.
It's a lack of faith that there's anything that can be done in the next three years to turn this country around. And that's where I get miffed.
Guys like Griffith shouldn't switching parties, they should be getting the hell out of the way for either a new Republican or a new Democrat. Someone with ideas.
Because Griffith isn't going to spend the next three years trying to make things better, he's going to spend the next three years covering his ass. He's going to be one more piece of intellectual dead weight, cashing his check and hoping this President and this country fails so he can stay in power.
Now that he's there, he doesn't want to leave. I won't say becoming a Republican in Alabama isn't a well-considered bet, but I'd hardly call it courageous.
I call it cowardly.