Kennedy’s speech

I heard most of it on C-Span and, frankly, I was amazed. Here was one of the most senior and liberal members of Congress preaching to the Democrats on 1.) the future and 2.) values. Only a diatribe about drunk driving could have made it more surreal.

Mark Kilmer quipped: “Sounds like a plan. For defeat, anyway.” Meanwhile, John Hawkins eviscerated “Ted Kennedy’s Socialist Agenda.” But the most withering criticism of the downward spiral of the Democrats was by Joan Vennochi in the Boston Globe “Blurred messages from Democrats”:

Here’s the new Democratic Party slogan: We stand for nothing but victory.

As a political strategy in 2004, it did not win the White House for Democrats. Red state voters were not tempted to switch from a candidate who shared their absolute conviction that abortion is wrong or that waging war in Iraq is a valid way to fight terrorism. It seems unlikely to prevail in future presidential elections, either.

It's a cliche that happens to be true: To win support, candidates and parties have to stand for something. They cannot be strictly against the opposition. Even worse, they cannot be for and against what the other side believes in.

I think the Republicans understand this, which is why President Bush has been pushing (for example) the issue of Social Security reform. Thus far, the Democrats have been placed in an untenable position of either claiming there is no problem or proposing reforms of their own. They can’t do the first and they won’t do the second.