The Rallying Cry We’ve Been Waiting For

Did you hear it last night?

This primary season has been a little bit like Ludvig Beethoven’s competing themes when he wrote his ninth symphony. He struggled with anger, precision and meditation in each of his movements. Some of them are pretty catchy tunes but he discards them as not quite doin’ it for him. And then, at the very end, he hums a little ditty and it gradually, then explosively swells into the Ode to Joy.

I heard the ditty last night. Here it is:

This is the “true” message that all of the Democrats should be proclaiming at every opportunity this fall: Shared Responsibility is a Core Democratic Principle This is one of the things that sets us apart from Republicans. If we want to bring people together in the fall, we need them to rally around principles like this. The reason the country is in such crisis is because Movement Conservatism is all about divide and conquer, everyone is on their own, NO power in DISUNION.

Hillary Clinton gets it, John Edwards gets it. Barack Obama doesn’t get it. Whatever “hope” he’s been talking about has been skewed away from the core Democratic principles of shared responsibility. He’s been appealing to independents and moderate Republicans by adopting their language and moving himself to the right. That’s not going to work because the country sees that Republicanism and Movement Conservatism is a failure and when it comes right down to it, Obama doesn’t offer any principles as an alternative.

But Hillary did it last night. This is the sound bite that should be spread far and wide. It’s just a ditty now but add to it the belief in social justice, fiscal responsibility, a healthy planet, privacy and strength through diplomacy and you’ve got a hit with a bullet.

Final thot for the night

I don’t care who you support, the idea that Barack Obama won that debate is ridiculous.  And don’t get me wrong, I was expecting him to perform better than he did.  The only conclusion I can come to is that he is a poor debater because he just doesn’t have the knowledge base or longevity in the business to be as comfortable and confident as Hillary or Edwards are speaking on the issues. The GOP is going to spend $250 MILLION dollars to roll out an attack on our nominee and if it’s Obama, God help us.  We’re dead if he can’t defend himself better.

That is not to say that he isn’t a very smart, driven, dedicated man.  He just isn’t *there* yet and every debate I see merely reinforces that perception.  If anyone performed better than expected it was Edwards.  Hillary was on fire.

But not Obama.  It’s time to face the facts.