If we don't come together on DU how can we be a strong party. We are

[cheshire]

a party who accepts a very diverse group of people from the extreme left to the middle, from any religion. We don't agree on everything but can't we agree that we need to be in theis all together. I'm listening to Clinton and he is saying the same thing. We as a party need to be strong. Otherwise we will stay weak as we have been.

[Crassus]

1. Cohesive Concise Leadership

The Democratic Party has too little cohesion. It's really just that simple.

From environmentalists to labor; the ivory tower, to the ghettos, it is a party of vastly disparate interests that have little focus in common.

I'm not claiming there isn't the ability to forge that common ground and cohesion but it is going to take strong leadership and a willingness to compromise on some core issues to enact.

Frankly, we need Bill Clinton for the Party Chairman and he's got to start implementing some sound policies for this party. He can manage like nobody's business.

Not that his own personal views respect the core of the Democratic Party either, just that his managerial and persuasive abilities are unparalleled.

[cheshire]

3. Maybe that's the problem, if you are waiting for something from the past

it's not going to happen. We need to get behind the next man. We need to be leaders and work with a candidate. Not be lead by one.

[Crassus]

21. Past ?

How is promoting Bill Clinton for party chairman, "waiting for something from the past?"

He is a resource and a damn fine one. He should be used by the party for its benefit.

The Dems will need many, many leaders - both old and new to carry them forward and bring a coherent message to american voters.

Coherency - it isn't just a word - it's the solution.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. I wouldn't used DU as any sort of barometer

of anything.

[cheshire]

5. I don't but It's the place to get things done. Working as a team to get on

track. I get more done on a forum with democrates and republicans both talking together. What does that say about DU?

[madfloridian]

12. We do our work at local levels, as the party infrastructure won't change.

You can ask for unity, but right now unity implies that I accept the evil thing called Fallujah, the invasion of Iraq, and destruction of public schools and Medicare and Social Security. I can not do that.

[Speck Tater]

4. Mark Twain said it best:

"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

(I think it was Mark Twain, anyway. It might have been somebody else, so don't crucify me if I'm wrong.)

[cheshire]

7. Maybe that's why we are a weak party. Individualality is more important th

than making the party strong.

[Crassus]

22. Individuality is the key

Individuality can be both a strength and a weakness.

It is a strength when individuals bring their own points of view to work on a problem. It is a strength when individuals are free to disagree and use dissent to foster change.

It is a weakness when too many people are going in too many different directions.

These trends have to be recognized by a party leadership and used for their bonuses.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. Wil Rogers

[bklyncowgirl]

18. Actually I think that was Will Rogers

Twain said something to the effect that America has no distinct criminal class except for Congress.

Both great Americans who I wish we had around here today.

[ZombieNixon]

28. I think that was Will Rogers.

eom

[vet_against_Bush]

6. I agree. nt

[madfloridian]

8. It will be hard because we don't agree on much at all anymore.

That is the tragedy. The ones who hold the party leadership are corporately tied to the point that they suppress the grassroots movements.

Clinton in Iowa said fall in love, then fall in line. We did.

As he said that, the party leaders, including him, were making calls to congressional leaders who supported Dean to back off.

My problem now is that ideology I am supposed to fall in line with goes against my beliefs and it hurts me economically.

Thanks, we are with DFA.
www.democracyforamerica.com
www.blogforamerica.com

When a party is no longer for the people, it is no longer relevant to me.

[willysnout]

9. I Agree, cheshire!

You'd think no one here ever lost an election. Children, do none of you remember 1972 or 1980? Oh, and how would you like to have been a Republican in 1964 or 1936? Come on, we live and fight another day. Stop crying.

[billyskank]

15. Be careful

There were a number of people newly enthused about politics because of their distaste for Bush. Many of those were backers of Dean.

These people were persuaded by the cooler heads that idealism won't win elections, and that they should get behind the safe candidate in order to win the election.

So they compromised their ideals, as they see it, in order to secure a victory that did not happen. So they may well see that they sacrificed their ideals for nothing.

I am a Brit. I am in Britain. I was unable to vote in the primaries and the general election. I think I have a little distance from the whole thing, although my sympathies definitely lie with the Dean faction. That's my own position. I think that the last thing people like that need right now is you calling them children. It's not going to help. Yes, many of them are young, but it sounds like you are belittling them.

I don't think you're going to achieve unity that way.

[willysnout]

19. Americans Don't Read History

I'm looking at this wailing and gnashing of teeth and, while I am also very deeply disappointed and even anguished by our loss, I also see a real lack of perspective.

Imagine you were a Republican in 1936. After that election, you were looking at a Democratic president who had won 46 of what were then 48 states by the largest majority in history. You were looking at a House of Representatives split 330 Democrats to 80 Republicans. The Senate was split 76 Democrats to 15 Republicans. O.K., there were differences, one big one being that many of those Democrats were highly conservative Southerners.

But still, the odds were daunting. Yet, when it came to changing the makeup of the Supreme Court by expanding its membership from 9 to 15, the newly-elected president got squashed. And the Democatic congress found itself under very effective Republican pressure to keep the United States out of the unfolding war in Europe.

The question now is whether Bush will be Lyndon Johnson or whether he will be Jimmy Carter. Each of the presidents had big Democratic majorities in both chambers. One made huge legislative accomplishments and the other was frustrated at every turn. Partly it was personality differences, but mostly it was outside constraints. In case anyone hasn't noticed, Bush won a close election. He's got us in an increasingly unpopular and unwinnable war, and the budget situation is an unfolding disaster.

I'm not trying to be Pollyanna here, but this doomsday talk around here lacks any sense of perspective. Crack a history book, children. You'll see that this isn't as bad as it looks.

[LittleClarkie]

20. That's what I wonder

Of those who supported a particular candidate, who was new and who did they support.

I was new (relatively). I'm 41 years old but never paid attention properly before. I was a Clarkie who fell in love with Kerry.

I get the impression from some people that they dipped their toe into the politics game, but don't really like politics or politicians. Dean, along with probaby Clark, were the candidates who would appeal to those looking for an outsider to the game.

Maybe I don't like politics either. I don't understand the calls for Kerry to "Gore" himself. I don't understand the "been there, done that" attitude toward a failed candidate (I'm thinking Reagan here. How long did it take him? Or Nixon for that matter.)

If we should stick with what we believe in, then I'm sticking with Kerry. If he was going to be a good prez in 2004, then he will be a good prez in 2008. I'm not going to punish him because he didn't do everything exactly as I would have wanted him to. How could he follow the advice of all 55 million anyway. How do you come up with a strategy that appeals to 55 million different cats and kittens. There are those people who actually thought it would be a good idea for Kerry to bitch-slap Dubya across the stage at the debate. Which he did, rhetorically if not physically.

I guess I'm wondering at the folks who say they will never vote again, or will never vote for a major party again. That seems like retirement to me, after only one election.

I dunno. I'm new too. And perplexed.

[cheshire]

24. I think I could have written your post. Not as well but of thought. :)

[cheshire]

23. I am not belittling anyone, I am trying to find the ribbon to try us toget

er. A big blue ribbon that will bind us into one huge strong, supportive, sucinct force that can say in a loud voice. We are proud of our diversity and not be torn down by those that hide behind religion and use fear and the frightened to mock us and beat us.

[madfloridian]

17. This time they made it clear....fall in line.

We did. No more. Their corporate ideas are destroying our country. We will work with progressive groups.

[cheshire]

25. I hate to be the one to tell you Dems are progressive. We are the major

ity. We have the highest persentage of people. If you don't win with another party then what?

[madfloridian]

26. From the ground up....local candidates.

The party has the lock on issues...pro-war, pro-corporations.

We take what we can get and build from the ground up.
That is what DFA does.

[madfloridian]

10. Corporate funding of the DLC to marginalize minorities in the party.

That is what I have to say. I have a thread going in which the DLC states that they sought corporate funding so they would not need the "traditional" people so long connected to the Democrats. Read it and weep.

[billyskank]

11. I think

it's because everybody was united behind Kerry because they wanted him to beat Bush. That was the factor. Not everyone liked him as a candidate, but they got behind him in the hope that he could oust the incumbent.

He didn't. So the coalition has fractured back into the disorder that existed before the primaries. There are those who were behind Kerry all the way, who haven't lost faith and are demanding of others, like you are, "buck up! How can we win if we can't get along here?"

In my opinion people who think like this have to appreciate that there are a great many people who were never enthused by Kerry, but signed up once it was clear he was the candidate because he was supposed to be the man who could beat Bush. That was why he had to be chosen. When he didn't fulfil his promise, many people felt betrayed.

You may not agree with that kind of sentiment but you must accept that it is there. The healing does not have to come all from one side only.

[Zorra]

14. Hey, if we all become republicans like the DLC wants us to, we'll be a

really strong party!

Not.

Join the Progressive Democrats of America:
http://www.pdamerica.org/

[Malva Zebrina]

16. I don't think it our fault that we are weak

this is a community here of for the most part ordinary,as far as I can determine, people.

We are the ones that not only become enraged but are also willing to sacrifice to get a person we think could have overturned the Bush horror, but we have little power except the one in reserve which is to take to the streets and dissent. That is about the extent of it.

I do not mean that to say that all is lost, but we do not even have the power of the vote, apparently, any more.

We have no power over our elected representatives any longer--they are playing a game we have no part in, nor do we have any major chess piece on the board. We are the people,but apparently that single phrase uttered long ago and recorded and which has been one of the most quoted documents in our history, is moot.

We the ordinary people, are like autumn leaves, drifting in the wind as we realize that what we the people want, is trivial compared to the power of those who are playing the Belt way, party game in Washington--a city of it's own within the halls of congress, and we are not people of that city.

That is how I feel today about it all. I have no solution and my only recourse is to retreat and try to work out a workable plan with which I can be happy for the rest of my life for myself. The decisions I make will not, so far, depend upon politics, as I know it today although of course there is a certain amount of forced participation and regulations re the way I live my life.

[cheshire]

27. I stand by my statement. I do not condemn I ask for people to put aside

the pain, disappointment and fear of losing again, blaming in order to make this party stronger than ever before. I don't want us to change, I want us to be proud.We can't be a force to be reckoned with without unity.

[Malva Zebrina]

29. that's OK

I know what you want.

[madfloridian]

30. But many of us feel that unity for the wrong reasons won't work.

Unity would be nice, but they want it on their terms....pandering to the South, becoming more religious to win, giving in on women's rights, gay rights, Medicare....just giving in.

Sometimes unity is not as good as a little constructive criticism.

They need to listen to us.

[Doctor_J]

31. We're OK

we have truth and righteousness on our side. At this point we are just outgunned by the whorporations and the media. As soon as the PNAC have had a fair chance to make the UN turn on the US, the neocons and hate radio denizens will scatter to the various circles of hell and Dean and Obama and Jesse Jr. and Granholm (and Malloy and Ward and Crispin Miller and Hartmann....) will lead the next resurgence of America.

That which doesn't kill me makes me stronger.