Since at least 1992, the easiest and most likely path to national prominence as a Democrat has been through public acts of Sista Soulja. For the past fifteen years (or more), in order for Democrats to gain favor within the national political narrative, it has been deemed necessary that they castigate and distance themselves from members of their own party in the same manner that Republicans would do so. This situation has proven is untenable for Democrats for two main reasons. First, in order to gain national prominence and a favorable position within the national political narrative, Republicans are never required to castigate anyone in their own party for extremism. Thus, the narrative always forces Democrats to look more divided (and hence, no one knows what they stand for). Second, while it may be to the benefit of individual Democrats to repeat Republican talking points about Democrats, it is entirely against the interests of the Democratic Party as a whole. Thus, Democrats have incentives to make their own party appear extreme, anti-religion, soft on defense, etc. This is how we ended up with a situation in the 1990's when a popular Democratic President presided over a nation where the electoral fortunes of the Democratic Party were in severe decline. When the Democratic Party leadership was repeating Republican complaints about Democrats,
in Peter Daou's formulaiton, the conventional wisdom triangle closed against Democrats. One only wonders what could happen to the Democratic Party if Hillary Clinton is able to complete her plan of becoming our leader by
Sista Souljaing every progressive in the country.
The Sista Soulja narrative does not work for Democrats. Fortunately, via the Connecticut primary, a new narrative is beginning to take its place. In the Hartford Courant, in an excellent article about the local and national netroots efforts on behalf of Ned Lamont,
Paul Bass writes about what works now (emphasis mine):
The man who was so ahead of the political curve when he entered the Senate 18 years ago is now hopelessly behind it.
In 1988, his sleeping-bear commercial about Lowell P. Weicker pioneered the modern TV attack ad in Connecticut. Joe understood the need to appeal to independent voters, at the expense of his party's traditional liberals, in order to win statewide office. Once in Washington, he realized power lay in building alliances not with fellow Democrats but with right-wingers like Ralph Reed and Charles Murray, not to mention a succession of presidents named Bush.
But now it's 2006. Joe's original party base is hungry to punish Bush, Republicans, and any Democrats who play GOP footsy. They're maddest most of all about the Iraq war, for which Lieberman has been the most vocal Democratic cheerleader.
TV and high-priced hired-gun TV ad makers no longer rule campaigns. Bloggers have taken their place. Politicians have to inspire them, not buy them. Their wildcat work spreads like a virus through computer screens across the country. In just 45 days as a candidate, Lamont brought in donations from over 4,000 people across the country. Thousands more clicked on to volunteer.
By the time Joe saw what was happening, it was too late to order a vaccine. He ran into a perfect marriage of a new technology, an issue geared to people who use that technology (the war), and, lastly, a credible, motivated, intelligent, wealthy candidate.
Hello narrative replacement. Rather than labeling members of our own party extreme, the new path toward success is to inspire members of your own party. That we are now seeing articles like this in established news outlets is a sign of the great potential for change this campaign has. But it won't happen unless Ned Lamont is able to gain real traction.
This is an incredibly important race for the future of the Democratic Party. The narrative is already in transition, and we need to bring this one home. You guys have been absolutely fantastic so far, but we all need to continue to give Ned Lamont our support.
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