A bankruptcy of ideas

Yesterday there was a post on Daily Kos called “No need for Dem plan” that concluded the Democrats don’t need to make any counterproposals to reform Social Security: “The more desperate the GOP becomes with their failing Social Security effort, the more shrill their demands for a "Democratic Plan" will become.”

Battered by years of setbacks in both national and state politics, the American Left is celebrating their miniscule, pseudo-victory over a yet-to-be-proposed reform plan. But, as I’ve made clear for some time, I believe this absence of seriousness on issues both foreign and domestic will condemn the Democratic party to irrelevancy. The Republicans are now shaping the terms of debate on every important issue; the Democrats simply say “no.”

Writing in the NY Times today, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ) believes the Democrats have set up an “inverted pyramid” in which they choose a candidate first and later try to figure out what their platform should be:

Democrats who run for president have to build their own pyramids all by themselves. There is no coherent, larger structure that they can rely on. Unlike Republicans, they don't simply have to assemble a campaign apparatus - they have to formulate ideas and a vision, too. Many Democratic fundraisers join a campaign only after assessing how well it has done in assembling its pyramid of political, media and idea people.

There is no clearly identifiable funding base for Democratic policy organizations, and in the frantic campaign rush there is no time for patient, long-term development of new ideas or of new ways to sell old ideas. Campaigns don't start thinking about a Democratic brand until halfway through the election year, by which time winning the daily news cycle takes precedence over building a consistent message. The closest that Democrats get to a brand is a catchy slogan.

I think Bradley is trying to soften the blow of his criticism with that “too hurried to form an ideology” line. John Kerry had been running for president practically his entire life and the muddled message he sent to America wasn’t that he’d fight the war on terrorism today, but that he fought the war in Vietnam yesterday.

Today, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg came out with a new Democracy Corps memo that blamed Kerry’s anemic share of the Catholic vote on the candidate’s empty rhetoric. From Beltway Buzz:

In 1996, Bill Clinton carried the Catholic vote 48 to 41 percent. Al Gore lost the Catholic vote 52 to 45 percent. And John Kerry, himself a Catholic, lost the Catholic vote by a “stroking” [sic] 13 points, 43 to 56 percent. According to Greenberg, Kerry lost Catholic ground to Bush in swing states including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Specifically, Greenberg blames Kerry's lack of vision and moral centering on his inability to carry the Catholic vote.

Democrats can continue to stand on the sidelines and throw tomatoes, filibuster judges, and generally gum up the works of government. But, in the end, you can’t beat something with nothing.