Lunch with a 30+ year Democratic strategist [View All]

[DFW]

I just came back from a meeting with a top Democrat who is a former everything
except member of the executive or Congress. 99% of it was off the record, but
even the 1% was very sobering.

A few statistics: Under Bush, if you didn't finish high school, chances are, you are far worse off now than in 2001. Under Bush, if you finished High School, chances are, you are worse off now than in 2001. Under Bush, if you finished 4 years of college, chances are you are no better off than you were in 2001. Only if you have a graduate degree, are you in the group that statistically MIGHT be better off now than in 2001.

An observance: the primary process is geared for celebrity candidates for people to get enamored of. Our nominee should have been someone like Dodd or Biden, but they didn't have enough star quality.

Another observance: We may have logic and common sense on our side, but the Republicans have a huge propaganda apparatus that has nearly unlimited funding. It still owns the "family values" issue, along with religion, and Bush won Ohio because (apart from fraud by Blackwell & Co.) by having a "defense of marriage" question on the ballot, to get out a right wing vote that otherwise would have stayed home. No matter how much common sense would dictate that we should win the presidency in a landslide, we probably won't--we'll win it in a squeaker, and then only with an all-out effort. We are up against a well-oiled propaganda machine that has been functioning successfully since 1968. Idealism and hope will not be enough to combat that: "necessary but not sufficient," as they said on the SAT tests.

The rest of it (specifics) was all off the record, but suffice it to say that it was very sobering, and that although I still like our chances in November, I came away with the notion that it will be nowhere near the lock that I hoped and thought it would be. The primary fight needs to be over, and the bile and anger, especially from the Obama side (this individual was taking the Party's side, not that of one candidate over the other) needs to stop NOW. There is a LOT of work to do, and a lot of people that need talking to (not shouting at) and convincing.

Time to roll up the proverbial sleeves. We'll win Congress, but without the White House, we'll be treading water for the next four years.

As an aside, in the hotel I was at this morning, there was a CNN broadcast on, and some idiot American watching saying out loud, as Obama's image came on the screen, "Mr. Hussein." People like that disgust me, but they need to be talked to, and civilly, if we are to stand a chance--which, I still say, we do.