Broken Record

This subject keeps coming up and we are no further ahead than the last time. What happened to "we can do better"?

ANALYSIS / As Republicans stumble, Democrats bumble / Strategists say Dems having trouble finding identity, offering compelling alternative: "Democrats are searching for their own unifying themes, with strategists voicing concern that roughly one year before the election, many people have little idea what the party stands for.

Part of the problem stems from Democratic disagreements on specific issues, such as Iraq, as well as broader strategic decisions such as whether to concentrate on invigorating the base or reaching out to moderate swing voters. It is accentuated by the lack of a marquee leader who can stir members coast to coast, and by the party's minority status, which deprives it of a platform to promote its agenda.

After consecutive losses in presidential elections and now in their second decade as a minority on Capitol Hill, Democrats are struggling for a well recognized identity.

'Democrats have found it difficult to articulate a compelling message or an alternative agenda,' wrote former Clinton White House aides Elaine Kamarck, now on the faculty at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and William Galston, now a University of Maryland professor, in a recently released 68-page report titled 'The Politics of Polarization.'

'Whatever voters may think of the Republican mantra -- strong defense, lower taxes, traditional values -- at least they know where Republicans stand. They have no such conviction about the Democrats,' concludes the report.

Or, put more bluntly by comedian Jay Leno as he marked the 33rd anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate office complex: 'You see, back in those days the Democrats actually had ideas worth stealing.'"

Because, according to this, Democrats aren't doing or saying anything of worth. I have to agree. We need a leader that doesn't care about getting elected or reelected. We need someone who is going to buckle down, do the job and let the people decide if they should run again. We need a worker bee at the top because our political royalty has become too inbred and can no longer see the setting from the glare of the jewels.

When I look at today's politicians they bear no resemblance to the people who helped to found this country. Our founding fathers were willing to die for what they believed in, lose their homes and/or spend the rest of their life in prison. They were active players in bringing this country forth. Todays politician, not so much. The majority have never served in the military, but they make decisions about the military based on what they have read or a knee jerk reaction to events without thinking through the consequences. They determine benefits for people who voted for them based on what the lobbyist who paid for the latest great function wants, not what their constitutients need. Otherwise they wouldn't authorize a bridge to nowhere while cutting food and medicine for people who are either too young to pay taxes or old enough that they hope they die off before the next election. While our founding fathers thought that dying for this country to be born was worth the effort, today's politicians would rather compromise ethics than their wallet.

I'm tired of hearing the same old scratchy refrain. With as much ammunition as the Republican party has given the Democrats all we hear is silence, skipping over the lyrics until they get to the instumental parts again. I guess they never played musical chairs as kids. When the music stops whoever doesn't have a seat is eliminated.