Democrats and Politics

E.J. Dionne and Thomas Frank have written opinion pieces, which offer interesting analyses of Democrats and the way they do politics. E.J. Dionne argues that Democrats have a self-image problem and that they don't know how to manage successfully their party, "While Republicans believe in their party and in the cause of building its organization from bottom to top, Democratic sympathizers tend to focus on favorite causes and favorite candidates, notably in presidential years. [...] Democrats claim to be more community-minded but act like radical individualists in their penchant for candidate-centered, one-cause-at-a-time politics." Thomas Frank focuses on the inability of the Democrats to formulate a message. He writes, "the Democrats can persuade almost nobody to switch their vote on that basis. That’s because, while they have many nice slogans on the subject, Democrats offer no larger theory of corruption, no way to help voters understand what is essentially Republican about the pillage currently being visited on our national government." Politics is about identity and ideology. In American politics, to win, a clear and consistent political message and a strong organization are necessary. The fact that Democrats have neither is shown by the whole Joe Lieberman affair. Joe Lieberman lost, yet he is still running with an aggressive and controversial message suggesting that Ned Lamont is dangerous for the Democratic Party and the country. The question, which this ambiguous episode of Democratic politics leads to, is the following, if Joe Lieberman could seriously argue before his loss a week ago that he was a strong Democrat, how can he feel comfortable running against the candidate chosen by his fellow democrats? I think that the answer is simple; there is no longer a consensus on what it means to be a Democrat.