To the Editor:
Re “Democrats Plan Political Triage to Retain House” (front page, Sept. 5):
House Democrats are said to have given up “a national campaign
trumpeting Democratic accomplishments” in favor of “a race-by-race
defensive strategy.” That is a formula for defeat.
The climate is bad for Democrats, so the party needs to effect climate
change, which can be accomplished only through a unified, national
campaign in which President Obama plays a major role.
It is an “us versus them” climate. The key lies in defining “them.”
Republicans have sold the notion that “them” is government. But most
Americans are even more opposed to financial manipulators and greedy
corporations than to government, and Democrats can succeed if they
educate the voters on how Republicans have voted virtually unanimously
for corporate interests.
Here’s a winning Democratic message:
There will still be a powerful government in January; the only question
is whether that power will be returned to the party of Wall Street that
produced the economic mess or retained by the party trying to clean it
up and prevent its recurrence.
Robert S. McElvaine
Jackson, Miss., Sept. 5, 2010
The writer, a professor of history at Millsaps College, has been a Democratic activist for four decades.
Note from KBJ: Please, please, please let President Obama play a major role. By the way, how smart can you be if you've been "a Democratic activist for four decades"? Most people abandon progressivism as they age, for it is the ideology of children. I guess some people never grow up.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 