Milbank hyperbolizes that Democrats are "in a freak-out about the results in Florida," agonizing over "whether Obamacare, or President Obama, will ruin the party in the fall." So he soothes them, sort of, with some vital "perspective":
The prospect of Democrats regaining control of the House was never a real possibility....
In the Senate, meanwhile, Republicans probably already would have 50 seats rather than their current 45 if the tea party hadn’t caused the GOP to throw away so many races in 2010 and 2012.
This--Doom awaited and still awaits, in all probability, no matter what--is a comforting perspective? "Hey, buck up, you're going to get slaughtered anyway, so why the long face about Florida?"
A long, sobered face it should be, however I don't detect a "freak-out." In Florida Democrats tested a tepid defense of Obamacare and a localized offensive against the Republican candidate. Both failed, but in failure there's opportunity. And here, I think, is where Milbank's gloomy "perspective" is wildly off track and poorly advised.
This year's election is a historical, and perhaps even historic, first. Never have we confronted a second presidential-term midterm in which the opposing party is at least borderline traitorous--in which that party has actively, demonstrably and flagrantly worked against the general welfare of everyday Americans.
What's more, as of November the GOP will have been in open rebellion and full-sabotage mode against an exemplary executive for six years--a grotesquery matched not even during the grisly sectional crises of the 1850s.
Those, Mr. Milbank, are the vital perspectives. This is no garden-variety midterm, and it shouldn't be viewed, or accepted, as such.
The key to winning?--or rather defeating the monumentally squalid GOP? If one exists for the Dems, it lies in the nationalization of the midterm campaign. The ugliness we face isn't local or statewide, it's continental; and any defensiveness or assaults on particular GOPers will take Democrats nowhere. They must instead address contemporary Republicanism as the nationally malicious, broadly fraudulent construct it is.
That means getting President Obama, both his head and his body, in the game. He needs a strong push. And if such vigorous pushing is grossly misinterpreted by some Dems as "Obama-bashing"--a really weird kind of Obama-bashing, I might add, since it comes from Obama's supporters such as myself--well, so be it. We can tackle only one kind of ignorance at a time.
The key for Democrats to win is turnout. If the turnout is high, the Democrats win. As DKos pointed out in Florida "we didn't turn out, we didn't win"
The challenge for the D's is to figure out how to get groups that typically don't turn out for mid terms to actually go to the polls and vote
Posted by: Lee | March 13, 2014 at 09:27 AM
I live in hope. I think you are right about a lot of this. Looking in detail at what happened in Florida's thirteenth district one has to be impressed with how close a Democrat came to winning a district that has been solidly Republican for over forty years and where the number of registered Republican voters outnumber the Democrats quite significantly. This despite the supposed Obamacare albatross and a stupendous amount of money spent on this issue by external sources.
I will disagree on the point about Obama. It is not the president who needs to get his head in the game. It is the people who want to retake the House and keep the Senate. It is the people who are helping the Republicans by drawing foolish lines in the sand on issues like Keystone XL which is supported by labor and anathema to the progressive wing of the party. Or trade deals. Or national security issues. People who demand leadership should be leadable. Issuing issue by issue ultimatums that make political support contingent on adopting policies that divide the Democrats (honest divisions to be sure) achieves nothing. Maybe I am a little crazy but I don't think I would define leadership as expecting the president to adopt only my views to the exclusion of all others. Yet that is all I see coming from the left side of the political spectrum.
Posted by: Peter G | March 13, 2014 at 09:32 AM
Obama has been pushing, the media just doesn't let you know. That is why he is working a lot through alternative media. And he has been GOP bashing, and, as I have said before and see evidence of, he will ramp that up as time goes on. Fact is, 90% of the electorate is not even paying attention right now.
Sink's biggest mistake was doing,as you put it, a lukewarm defense of the ACA. And that is the message. If you go around admitting that it has flaws, that is what is going to resonate with the people, not the part where you say that some of it is okay.
The last couple months have given the Dems a lot to brag about with the ACA. They had better do so.
Posted by: japa21 | March 13, 2014 at 09:35 AM
Ha! "Borderline Traitorous" The Republicans passed the border long ago and fully endorse/support/envy the actions of a Soviet KGB Dictator over the President.
The Modern GOP exists for one reason to crush the American People and bring us to heel under the domination of the Plutocracy.
Posted by: Grung_e_Gene | March 13, 2014 at 09:39 AM
Wherein I deposit my hopes. A lot of people now have health insurance who didn't. Or are now covered by Medicaid. There's a lot of potential voters in those numbers.
Posted by: Peter G | March 13, 2014 at 09:41 AM