By Adam LoBelia
The 2006 election will be a lot more important than Americans realize. It is the last chance to seriously undermine the President and his cadre of faux patriots’ grip on power. If the Republicans maintain their control over the legislative branch, then the road is clear for them to further reduce the freedom and security of the American people.
The most unfortunate aspect about all of this is that the Democrats either don’t know or don’t care.
With less than six months to go before Election Day, the Democrats are just as fractured as they have been since John Kerry failed in November 2004. Nancy Pelosi remains the plaster-faced, do-nothing that we remember ghoulishly admonishing Bush following the 2005 State of the Union Address, and Howard Dean’s firebrand rhetoric has been notably muted since taking the reigns at Donkey Central. He has failed to be the leader the Democrats need to pose a credible threat. His inability to raise funds has been harped upon, but his refusal to create a unified party message and to slap down the opportunists whenever they spring up to divide the party is even more damaging.
The DNC has been given ample opportunity to embarrass and damage the President’s authoritarian trends and have balked at every opportunity. For every Russ Feingold or John Murtha, there are 10 Joe Liebermans who stay silent and leave them out to dry. The Republicans did not take power by being similarly timid, yet the DNC is strangely unwilling to learn from their example. After all the scandals that have been lobbed at Bush and after his two-time approval-rating bombs, theories of incompetence begin to give way to theories of complacence.
If the Democrats are going to play anvil to the GOP’s hammer, then the only hope comes from within the GOP itself. The prospects for internal reform are brighter, but not much. Much of the conservative intelligentsia remains divided over how much support Bush should get, but most agree that Bush is still an ok guy and the country is heading in the right direction. No matter how hard Bush has been hit, they will rally to him in the end because their reputations are at stake, and admitting that Bush has been arguably more antagonistic to conservative political values than Bill Clinton is beyond what their egos can handle.
As for Republicans in Congress there are better prospects. The recent port fiasco helped break Republican unity at a critical juncture, but it can easily be fused back together as the matter did not reflect a major ideological break. However, many Republican legislators are aware that standing by Bush at this point is risky. But even if Bush is a lame duck, he still has plenty of allies in Congress that will carry out his inner-circle’s dreams of a reactionary, plutocratic America. Already there is legislation proposed by Sen. Mike DeWine that will make it illegal to report certain crimes committed by the President. As of now, there is no reason to believe this will not be made into a law.
True conservatives, however, still have an avenue to attack and weaken the president. Fortunately, many neocons have been driven to silence now that Iraq is clearly an unwinnable conflict and America’s prospects for stopping Iran from going nuclear are impossible. Some, like Francis Fukuyama, are railing against their old ideology. If they can gain momentum and enter the public debate, then Bush’s picture of a cowed America will crumble away. They need help, though, from both the media and like-minded politicians.
And that brings us to the crux of the matter. Although Bush’s ratings are at an all-time low, he still has the high ground. There are still millions of Americans sharing his mindset that will blindly support him. He knows how to rally them at the drop of a hat, and already we are seeing those old tricks being played with the bogus supposed “threat” against the NCAA tournament. While Americans die in Iraq and the economy inches closer to the brink, Bush can play on the old “culture war” mainstays of gay bashing and other assorted boogeymen. He doesn’t need Americans to love him, he just needs them to fear him so that they will capitulate to anything he wants.
2006 is a crossroad, and Americans will be presented with a choice. This is their last chance to reject Bush’s fearful America and potentially reverse the damage he’s done. Conservatives and liberals must unite to ensure that there will be a future where both ideologies and all in between will be allowed to reasonably pursue their political aspirations, without having to kowtow to political leaders who will insist they keep their mouths shut so the money keeps rolling in. The media, the politicians with a conscience and the voters have to wake up; it is very late now. The choice is ours.