Democratic Meltdown

At a time when a recent poll by John Zogby has found that

Democrats, after 11 years as the minority party in Congress, still can't get it right with their own voters...

we are seeing more and more signs that despite dumb mistakes by the GOP, there is still little hope that the Democrats will take control of either chamber of Congress in November or the White House in 2008.

Dick Morris, who is nearly always right on with his prognostications, said in a Hill News op-ed today, that the one man who could surpass Hilary Clinton as the front-runner in the Democratic primary is (drumroll please): None other than Al Gore! Al Gore!! AL GORE!!!

And Gore may be a man whose time has come in his party.

snip

The Democratic base’s anger at Gore’s defeat in 2000 was assuaged by the worse Kerry defeat of 2004. The idea that he was an incompetent candidate has been replaced in Democratic iconography by the idea that he was cheated out of the presidency. The hiatus has healed his reputation with the base in much the same way that the negative rap on Nixon for losing in 1960 was ameliorated by the Goldwater wipeout of 1964.

Is this the best that that the Democrats can do? A choice between Hilary Clinton and Al Gore? Republican strategists must be dancing in the streets over at First Street, SE in Washington DC.

Next, looking at the House of Representatives this year, there is not a lot of faith among the American people that either party knows what it is doing when it comes to running that chamber. The GOP is in the middle of the Abramoff/Delay/Cunningham ethics crises. The party is suffering from a rift between budget hawks and those who want to support the President. And the GOP faithful doubt their own party's ability to deal with big ticket issues like illegal immigration and cutting back on federal spending.

So what are the House Democrats doing? Launching a new website attacking Richard Pombo. Many of you outside of California may not know who Richard Pombo is, but he is the Chair of the House Resources Committee. The Democrats are attacking the chairman of a second tier committee for (another drumroll please) supporting drilling in ANWR!! Oh boy, how exciting!!!

There is not a single current issue on the DCCC website. The DNC, on the other hand looks like they have an issue platform under the agenda section. But if this is what they hope to sell as the Democratic alternative to the Contract with America, they need a lot of work.

Leadership takes a vision and that vision entails having something the Democrats don't have right now, a set of alternatives. The Zogby poll tells Democrats that they need to get some alternatives going and right quick or their position in the minority will be cemeted for a few more years. the Instapundit had a brilliant idea, Democrats need to look long and hard for someone who is not part of the DC establishment (like Hillary Clinton or Al Gore). He suggested Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and based on what I have seen of Gov. Bredesen, he could give the GOP fits in 2008. But to give Bredesen fits, the GOP should consider my favorite Governor Bob Ehrlich of MD.

Democrats need to do what the GOP did following the Barry Goldwater GOP meltdown. Step back, reassess and build a party again. That may mean ditching groups that keep forcing the party to the left, when the electorate is clearly not ready to go that far left. The Democratic party lacks a unifying set of principles. The GOP used to have some but seem to have abandoned them. Thus the race will go to the party who can get to some core principles and act on them.