Thursday, November 04, 2004
Rock Bottom
We suffered a Devastating Loss on Tuesday. No two ways about it. It was an across-the board sweep. I don't want to hear any arguments about provisional ballots in Ohio, Diebold shenanigans in Florida, or voter intimidation across the nation. I don't want to hear silver linings like Bush getting reelection by the narrowest margin in history, the victory of Ken Salazar in Colorado, or that, except for Texas-brand redistricting, we would have gained seats in the House.
So some people can sit and fret and wonder about all the what-ifs, focus on how close we came to winning this thing, and mock the breadth of Bush' "mandate". And they can protest Republican thug tactics, all the fraud we believe took place and consider W's inauguration illegitmate all they want. And they can shout about counting all the provisional ballots or demanding recounts until the cows come home. But none of this is going to change the fact that, on January 20, 2005, our president is still going to be George W. Bush.
In a way, Gore's narrow defeat in 2000 was disastrous for the Democrats. Not only did it result in us being shut out of power, but it trapped most Democrats into thinking that our basic approach was OK and we just had to follow the same general formula, hold onto the same coalition of special-interest groups, turn out the vote and we'd emerge victorious this time around. Well we didn't, and if we get trapped into thinking it was a narrow defeat, we will make this tragic mistake all over again.
In sports, in life and in politics, you need to hit the absolute rock bottom before you are finally able to reexamine yourself and confront the intrinsic problems that prevent you from accomplishing all that you would like. A string of partial-successes just serves to delude you into thinking that nothing is fundamentally wrong. And so you neither accomplish your goal or learn from your mistakes.
And so I do not wish to reflect on what could have been, that which was within our grasp. No. It was never within our grasp. If we think it was, or is, then we will surely fail again next time. So whether it is true or not, we cannot believe that we came close. We suffered a Devastating Loss. Tuesday was a miserable failure for the Democratic Party and we were completely and utterly humiliated. Hopefully, we will believe that we have hit rock bottom, and begin to confront our problems anew.
We suffered a Devastating Loss on Tuesday. No two ways about it. It was an across-the board sweep. I don't want to hear any arguments about provisional ballots in Ohio, Diebold shenanigans in Florida, or voter intimidation across the nation. I don't want to hear silver linings like Bush getting reelection by the narrowest margin in history, the victory of Ken Salazar in Colorado, or that, except for Texas-brand redistricting, we would have gained seats in the House.
So some people can sit and fret and wonder about all the what-ifs, focus on how close we came to winning this thing, and mock the breadth of Bush' "mandate". And they can protest Republican thug tactics, all the fraud we believe took place and consider W's inauguration illegitmate all they want. And they can shout about counting all the provisional ballots or demanding recounts until the cows come home. But none of this is going to change the fact that, on January 20, 2005, our president is still going to be George W. Bush.
In a way, Gore's narrow defeat in 2000 was disastrous for the Democrats. Not only did it result in us being shut out of power, but it trapped most Democrats into thinking that our basic approach was OK and we just had to follow the same general formula, hold onto the same coalition of special-interest groups, turn out the vote and we'd emerge victorious this time around. Well we didn't, and if we get trapped into thinking it was a narrow defeat, we will make this tragic mistake all over again.
In sports, in life and in politics, you need to hit the absolute rock bottom before you are finally able to reexamine yourself and confront the intrinsic problems that prevent you from accomplishing all that you would like. A string of partial-successes just serves to delude you into thinking that nothing is fundamentally wrong. And so you neither accomplish your goal or learn from your mistakes.
And so I do not wish to reflect on what could have been, that which was within our grasp. No. It was never within our grasp. If we think it was, or is, then we will surely fail again next time. So whether it is true or not, we cannot believe that we came close. We suffered a Devastating Loss. Tuesday was a miserable failure for the Democratic Party and we were completely and utterly humiliated. Hopefully, we will believe that we have hit rock bottom, and begin to confront our problems anew.
Comments:
Post a Comment
