I am very proud of what my party stands for.
I am proud of its history in the years it produced a brave and visionary president like FDR, a crippled man to fight the Depression and WWII in the days when there was no general acceptance of the crippled as capable.
A president like Harry Truman, a humble haberdasher, feisty and smart.
A crusader for the barefoot poor of his Texas hills and for all the poor and for civil rights, Lyndon Johnson, sadly drawn into a disastrous war but deserving high praise for his great domestic achievements.
John Kennedy, the first Catholic president, a hero in WWII and a hero in keeping the peace even when the military pressed hard during the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis, and a hero in beginning disarmament talks.
Barach Obama, first African/American president, who saved us from financial collapse, saved the auto industry, killed Osama Bin Laden, got us out of two wars, got Russia to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, reduced deportations by a whopping 42% in the last 5 years, ended federal discrimination against gays, got Native Americans the billions owed them in royalties for their resources, has ordered the Justice Department to use "compassion" doctrine to release thousands serving long jail sentences for minor drug offenses, ordered huge cuts in carbon emissions by the auto and coal industries, got $20 billion from BP to clean up the Gulf coast, and - what no other president was ever able to do! - got us a national program of health insurance. And more, lots more.
That's a hell of a record for a political party.
But there's things to be ashamed of too. The Democratic Party can be so stupid! Willfully stupid! And it can be colossally chicken.
It has held back from lauding this wonderful president and instead let the GOP dominate the media with its slimy, racist slurs against this good man. With calling him "liar" during the State of the Union address. With accusing him of fraud as to his birthplace. With likening him to Hitler.
This failure of the Democratic Party to stand up en masse is not only chicken, it's dumb. "You can run, but you can't hide." He's the president, the very obvious head of their party. They can't disown him just because he's black and racists don't like blacks. They can't disown him just because the GOP has skillfully played on this racism and also skillfully scared the beegeebers out of people about Obamacare. Nobody in America will accept that the Democrats have nothing to do with Obama. The Democratic officeholders can stand aloof all they want, but he is theirs.
The Democrats should embrace him proudly. Praise him loudly. Tell the people what I'm telling you here: This is one of the best presidents of all time. Instead they let the media speculate unchallenged about how badly Obama is hurting Democrats' chances in the fall election. Hurting them? He's all they've got and a lot more than they deserve!
If we lose the House and the Senate in the fall, it's the Democrats' own damn fault. The prize does not go to the stupid or the faint of heart. They dug their own graves. Silent, they let the GOP tarnish the solid gold guy who could have won them victory.
I wish I could say that the above is the entire extent of my party's stupidity, but it isn't. Today, in an email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party made plain that it's too dumb even to learn the biggest lesson in campaign politics, one staring them right in the face. Tune in next time, and I'll tell you what it is.
For now, call your Democratic Congress person's office and complain forcefully about the party's desertion of Obama. If your Congressional representative is a Republican, complain that you are fed up with the refusal of the House to work with the President.
After all, this Democratic Party is your party.
And certainly YOU haven't disavowed the best president in our lifetime.
Or have you?
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