Obsolete political parties never die, they just fade away

The Economist (UK) magazine had an article on President Bush’s first 100 days into his second term that included this graf:

The last thing that makes Mr Bush's second term particularly difficult is the united hostility from the Democrats. Most presidents make up for wavering support from their own side by reaching out to moderates from the other party. But Mr Bush infuriated Democrats in his first term by being so partisan himself—campaigning against people who had backed him on important votes. And a growing number of young Democratic activists would rather roast their own grandmothers than compromise with the satanic president.

Yikes! But sometimes I feel that this characterization is not far from the truth. Bereft of ideas, the Democratic party is running on the fumes of nostalgia…

In a word, Democratic ideology and rhetoric have not evolved from the 1960s, although the vast majority of Americans has — and an astute Republican leadership knows it.

…and the fires of anger:

How can you tell if a political party is brain-dead? Easy. It spends an entire campaign denouncing the incumbent as a smarmy, good-for-nothing liar, rather than outlining its own agenda. The Republicans tried it against Bill Clinton in 1996, the Democrats tried it against George W. Bush in 2004, and now in Britain the Conservatives are trying it, with equal lack of success, against Tony Blair.

Occasionally I get to see press releases by Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid and they’re always thick with the notion that obstructionism is a virtue. But to sustain this illusion, the Democrats need to ratchet up the rhetoric to the point where only the hard-core Michael Moore base is listening. That way lies madness, irrelevance, then obsolescence.