What would Harry think?

It's a rare instance when I copy and paste an entire column from another person, let alone something that others pay for. I try to honor intellectual property rights. But sometimes, that information is important, deserves wider distribution and prompts a comment from me. So, I have pasted a column below, acquired through my friend the CIB, at her Cyphering Web site.

Bob Herbert writes about the need for the Deomcrats to stop standing idly by and to present a viable alternative to the Republicans. They're on the ropes, but why should voters make a switch? Read on. Then, read further. I have added my comments below.

The New York Times • October 17, 2005
Get It Together, Democrats • By BOB HERBERT

A word of caution: Democrats should think twice before getting all giddy about the problems caving in on the Republicans and the prospects of regaining control of Congress in next year's elections.

For one thing, the Democrats' own house is hardly in order. While recent polls have shown growing disenchantment with President Bush and the G.O.P., there's no evidence that voters have suddenly become thrilled with the Democrats.

A survey taken by the Pew Research Center showed an abysmal 32 percent approval rating for Democratic leaders in Congress.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Congressional redistricting (anti-democratic in every sense of the word) has made it more difficult to oust incumbents. It would take a landslide of shocking proportions for the Democrats to win control of both houses of Congress next fall.

This is not to minimize the troubles facing the G.O.P. The party is in free fall. The war in Iraq has been a disaster and despite the vote on the constitution over the weekend there is no end in sight. The cronyism and incompetence of the Bush administration ("Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job") have become a national joke, a given.

Tom DeLay has been indicted. Bill Frist and his lawyers are answering subpoenas and preparing a defense for possible insider-trading charges. The White House is in a state of highest anxiety over the very real possibility that criminal charges will be brought against one or more of the most important people in the Bush administration. And conservatives have formed a circular firing squad over the Harriet Miers flap.

It's no wonder the Democrats are gleeful.

They should get over it, and get on with the very difficult business of convincing the public that Democrats would do a better job of governing a country that is already in deep trouble, and sinking deeper by the day.

It's not enough to tell voters how terrible the Republicans are. (Leave that to the left-leaning columnists.) What Democrats have to do is get over their timidity, look deep into their own souls, discover what they truly believe and then tell it like it is.

Give us something to latch onto. Where do we go from here?

A friend reminded me recently of the old political adage that all campaigns are a battle between hope and fear. Ever since Sept. 11 President Bush and the G.O.P. have been pushing the nation's fear buttons for all they're worth. The public is frightened, all right - about terror, about the consequences of the war in Iraq, about economic insecurity here at home, about the future of the United States. But there is no longer much confidence that President Bush and the Republicans are competent to deal with these tough issues.

What the Democrats have to do is get off their schadenfreude cloud and start the hard work of crafting a message of hope that they can deliver convincingly to the electorate - not just in the Congressional elections next year, but in local elections all over the country and the presidential election of 2008.

That is not happening at the moment. While Americans are turning increasingly against the war in Iraq, for example, the support for the war among major Democratic leaders seems nearly as staunch and as mindless as among Republicans. On that and other issues, Democrats are still agonizing over whether to say what they truly believe or try to present themselves as a somewhat lighter version of the G.O.P.

I wonder what Harry Truman would think about today's Democratic Party?

Democrats need to put together a serious proposal for withdrawal of American forces from Iraq over a reasonable (which means reasonably short) period of time, and couple that with a broader national security plan that focuses on Al Qaeda-type terrorism and domestic security.

Democrats need to tell the country the truth about taxes, about the benefits of investing in the nation's physical infrastructure, about the essential need to bolster public education from kindergarten through college, and about the shared sacrifices that will be necessary if anything approaching energy independence is to be achieved.

They need to be optimistic and hopeful as they deliver their message to the country, explaining that all of these things are doable, that they will strengthen the U.S. in the short term and create a better future for the next generation and the one after that.

Competence is essential, but it's not enough. The great voices of history have always been the voices of optimism and hope.

Herbert is dead-on correct. It's like when you are flopped on the couch on a lazy afternoon, an afternoon that started with a good movie on TV but where you drifted off to sleep in a haze of blissful laziness. Everything is wonderful. Then, you groggily awaken, drool puddled on the pillow, and realize the good movie is over, replaced by a cooking show. You'll never make a rack of lamb, but you decide it's worth listening to as you wipe the drool off and roll over to continue that nap. A while later, you awaken again, but this time it's dark, the clock says 6:30 and you don't know if it is a.m. or p.m. and the TV is showing some news program. You suddenly sit bolt upright. But the thing is you are still in the nappy haze and wonder if it is worth getting off the couch to check a clock or even to change the channel.

And that's the case now with the voters. They're sitting on the couch -- paying attention but a bit groggy -- and they can't decide if the news program is so bad they should get up and change the channel (or even fumble around for the remote). Heck, the other channels could be just as bad or worse. They need to see something that makes them change the channel -- something that motivates them to get off the couch.

Attention Democrat leaders (and not just Howard Dean, John Kerry, Al Gore, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders): People are paying attention. Yes, we want to watch the GOP twist slowly in the wind while their fellow Republicans circle like vultures, waiting pick apart the dying. But after the implosion of the Republicans -- and a fall is coming soon -- there simply must be an alternative. Right now, I don't think it is there.

What would Harry think? President Truman would probably be shocked at what the party has become. He could certainly give today's Democrats a lesson in giving people Hell. They need it.

There is an opportunity for attracting voters to the traditional ideals of the Democrat Party. These ideals built and strengthened this nation -- clean air and water, collective bargaining rights, rural electrification, farm home loans, hydroelectric dams, minimum wage, Social Security, OSHA and unemployment insurance. The so-called "red states" of the West and South used to be solidly "blue," populated by yellow-dog Democrats. Die hards. The faithful. Religion was not the defining characteristic of a political affiliation. Instead, the belief of what was best for the country defined that.

I grew up in the rural Kittitas Valley with a family heritage of homesteaders who worked hard to build a life on the frontier. They built small farms, raising their crops and livestock, eking out a living and getting by with the help of a government that believed in building infrastructure and helping its citizens to have a better life. My grandmother lived 77 years on a farm in Ellensburg, Wash., working the land and making her land work. She voted for candidates with a "D" next to their name, knowing who shared her ideals, who supported family farmers, who looked out for her.

Today it would be easy to assume that people like my grandmother would be solidly Republican because farmers, of course, vote for values. We need to get back to helping farmers remember that Democrats have values, too, and that farmers should also be voting to keep their livelihood.

When the Ds figure out how to get those voters back, the "red states" will be "blue" again and the halls of Congress and the White House will be back in the hands of people who can be responsible with power: Democrats.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.