Quote of the Day: Are The Democrats Genetically Naive?

As a former Political Science major who has been in both political parties, and been both a liberal and a conservative, depending on the era, I’ve been watching the increasingly frenzied battle over heath care reform and a little voice has been nagging me, whispering in my head: “Didn’t the Democrats see this coming? Did they forget political history? Weren’t they prepared for a brutal fight? Wasn’t this response on their scenario list?”

Great Minds Think Alike: Our political quote of the day comes from Dick Polman, who says he’s amazed by a New York Times piece that how the Democrats have been surprised at the depth of Republican opposition and ferocity of the attacks mounted against health care reform. Polman writes:

All of which prompts me to wonder (for the umpteenth time) whether there is some fundamental flaw in the Democratic gene pool that fuels their perpetually delusional belief that noble intentions are sufficient to prevail in a knife fight.

They were “caught off guard” by the cacophonous conservative assault on health care reform. They were “probably a little surprised.” They now insist that they have learned “lessons” about how it’s nuts to simply let the nuts peddle their lies.

This is where Yogi’s deja vu rule kicks in. Over and over, decade after decade, the Democrats have revealed their naivete..

He gives specific examples in this column that needs to be read in full. Then he writes:

And now we have the Obama people, waking up to the idea that maybe it’s not politically wise to sit mute and allow themselves to be tarred as fascists who would euthanize granny, ration health care, and slash Medicare benefits. (It’s priceless to hear the Republicans portraying themselves as the defenders of Medicare, given the fact that, if they had been in charge back in 1965, they never would have enacted Medicare in the first place. But I digress.)

The Republican right understands the power of the visceral; it knows how to stoke emotions at the expense of civility. This is not exactly a fresh observation, yet it’s amazing how flat-footed Democrats seem always to discover it anew. They seem forever convinced that the power of high ideals should be sufficient for victory – that, in the present case, Americans should simply be convinced, on the merits, that health care reform is preferable to the dysfunctional status quo. As Howard Paster, Clinton’s health care guy in 1993, told The Times this morning, “The expectation (among the Obama people) was that things have gotten so bad in the last 16 years that there would be a consensus on the need to act this time.”

But that’s not how the other team plays the game. Indeed, numerous Democratic strategists and commentators have been trying to make this point for a long time.

AND:

This is not to suggest that Obama should retaliate by retailing lies equal in virulence to those being spewed by his opponents; if he was to conduct himself as his opponents are doing, he would be promptly attacked for failing to change the tone in Washington.

His best option is to do what he probably should have done months ago: find an attractively repeatable health reform pitch that can fit on a bumper sticker, something that can appeal to positive emotions. (Perhaps if Obama had done that during the spring, he could have at least partially preempted the nabobs of negativity.) Indeed, there are reports today that Obama will now pitch his plan as a vehicle for ending unfair insurance practices, for protecting the millions of Americans who have pre-existing health conditions.

Maybe a positive emotional pitch can still work – unless it is too little, too late, and insufficient weaponry for an alley fight.

Indeed, at this point — unless something changes and this post is outdated by events (and you never know for Obama since he has often confounded the pundits) — you have to now redo all the original assumptions such as:

ASSUMPTION ONE: The Democrats with Obama at the helm are every bit as tough as the Republicans and perhaps more.

ASSUMPTION TWO: The Democrats with Obama at the helm are every bit as smart as the Republicans in doing whatever it takes to mobilize their base and get their message out to build support for their policies or undercut proposed Republican policies.

ASSUMPTION THREE: Obama will be another FDR or LBJ (during the Texan’s more successful years as Prez). No signs yet that he’s in that league.

ASSUMPTION FOUR: With changing demographics, the U.S. is on the brink of an era when the Democratic party will be dominant. If t the Democrats don’t have the smarts to play the game on the playing field that exists versus one that it would prefer, it ain’t gonna happen — or at least not the way many anticipated. If you re-do this calculation, perhaps with the demographic changes and the Demmies’ advantage on part registration it could mean we’ll see a weakened Democratic party, perhaps with the upper hand in terms of numbers, but constantly battling the Republicans who have superior battling skills.

Polman’s key point is central: didn’t they kind of suspect this was coming given all the statements about how the GOP wanted to stop the proposed plan partially because it could “break” Obama?

Cartoon by Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner. This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.