You know, I wish I could be more confident about the benefits of a Democratic victory in the November midterms but the signs just aren’t there, and I suspect they’ll win at least the House if not the Senate too. Georga10 over at DailyKos links to a really good article articulating fundamental problems with the Democratic party as it is currently constituted.

Despite a Republican Party desperate to lose its hold on the government, rather than rally at the opportunity and work to provide a real alternative to the disaster wrought by conservatives over the last two and a half decades (and yes, I include Clinton in that since he governed as a moderate Republican) the Democratic party is test-driving slogans with no substance to back them up and and wandering all over the political landscape terrified of offending someone, and thus offending just about everyone.

As the linked article states: [my emphasis]

And therein lies the strength of the conservatives’ slogans. Their bumper sticker phrases were not cooked up in a focus group or decided by a central committee of Republican Party elders meeting in the wood-paneled boardroom of Dick Cheney’s secure undisclosed location. They were arrived at through years of vigorous debate and discussion by people who passionately held some core beliefs - and debated them with each other and the politicians seeking their support. They were unafraid to think big and unafraid to anger those who disagreed with them - including many voters.

That highlighted part is key. Democrats seem incapable of understanding that the only way they will earn the respect of the electorate is to actually articulate a clear alternative to conservative ideology and behavior while at the same time calling the conservatives on their failings, rather than trying to pretend they can be better conservatives than the conservatives. Dems are afraid to trust their guts, to trust that they can take strong positions with which many people might disagree but that just standing for something that represents an alternative and sticking with it, being willing to lose on principle, will actually stand them in better stead with voters than will the current behavior which only insults the intelligence of anyone still paying attention to them.