Dems: Winning in the Long or Short Run?

Does anyone else find it pathetic that the idea with the most resonance right now in some liberal-left circles seems to be getting moderate Republicans to "pull a Jeffords" and switch out of the Republican party? The current "edition" of TomPaine.com is devoted to this issue. Working for Change has jumped on the bandwagon, too.

Now, sure, this might have the potential for a tactical impact, but I still find it to be...umm...a wee bit desperate. Especially with the recent woeful performance of the Democratic party in the elections, shouldn't energy be focused elsewhere? Like, say, building up the means to produce a counter-narrative to all the Bush spin. So says Sam Parry,

In winning on Nov. 5 – thus holding the House of Representatives for a fifth consecutive election and regaining the Senate – the Republicans proved they can mobilize electoral majorities, even against what appear to be their personal economic interests. The Republicans can flood the political system with both positive and negative messages to rally their conservative constituencies while dividing independents and depressing the Democratic base.

The Republicans have this power because they have invested billions of dollars in a sophisticated media apparatus that includes Fox News, talk radio, the Wall Street Journal's editorial pages, the Washington Times, dozens of magazines and Internet publications, and a large stable of conservative op-ed writers who dominate the opinion pages of major newspapers, including supposedly liberal ones like the Washington Post.

By comparison, liberals and Democrats have spent almost nothing on a media infrastructure, leaving them struggling to get out their political messages.

This media imbalance puts the Democrats in a nearly impossible bind when trying to fashion a winning national message that must mix progressive policies with a populist style. For Democrats to win nationally, their message must offer tangible solutions to social, economic, environmental and national security problems in language that inspires and unites divergent subgroups throughout the country.

Beyond building up a "sophisticated media apparatus," the additional emphasis should be on developing ideas that resonate with people not merely in opposition to or in the context of what the right is saying or doing.

In other words, the Democrats need to stop getting into rhetorical catfights with Republicans and spending time luring potential "Republicrats" to their side. Instead, they should work on developing a platform that has some degree of originality and, dare I say, independence. First and foremost, they need to clarify their ideas and purpose.

The preoccupation with "winning this round," by whatever means necessary, will only result in larger, more significant losses down the road. Unfortunately, as David Vest says on Counterpunch today, "That appears to be the emerging new Democratic strategy: not find someone who stands for something, but find someone who 'can win.'"