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About those Democrats... Ask yourself WWCLD. What would Coach Lasso do? [1]

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Date: 2025-02-22

Politics is a team sport. No matter how quirky an individual team member may be, or how much of an asshole as the case may be, he or she is a member of the team for better or worse. You can't get rid of them until their term is up, so trashing them is pointless.

So ask yourself, what would Ted Lasso do with our current Democratic crew? I think he would welcome them, figure out each one's strengths, and use them for what they're best at. Instead of harping on whatever stupid or distateful thing they've ever said or done, he'd tell them, and anyone in the bleachers still obsessing over it... be a goldfish.

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The current beefs with Democrats fall into two general categories, which at times are a tad contradictory. They are often stalking horses for various groups with political agendas, i.e., the Democratic leadership or establishment are the problem because they are too old, sell outs, no different than the other side, etc.

The first, with which I agree more than the other, is they should be doing more to gum up the works in the Senate. I also get the counter-argument though: let Republicans proceed to hoist themselves on their own petard. When your opponents are digging themselves into a hole, don't interfere. Besides, until something subject to filibuster comes around, Democrats can't really stop whatever it is Republicans want to do.

The other, which is the focus of this post, is they should be speaking out more which is more often a stalking horse for those on the left than other groups. There's typically a reference to the heroism of Sanders or AOC. There's an implication that leadership is standing in the way, which is kind of contradicted by the fact that no one seems to be trying to block those two, nor refute them.

I think speaking out more is counter-productive unless it serves a purpose. It invites the talk is cheap crowd. At times it's like Democrats can't win for losing. I do think what Sanders and AOC are doing does serve a purpose though, so Democrats should run with what appears to be an emerging division of labor.

What AOC and Sanders have been doing should be adopted as part of funded Democratic outreach. They should spend their time doing what they are doing even in small venues in rural areas. It should be part of their job descriptions because they are good at it. It's kind of like why Obama proposed making Clinton, Bill that is, Secretary of Explaining of Stuff. It's the sort of thing Reagan did back in the day because he was good at it before he ran for office. It built up support for the right's message by reaching out to Americans where they were to explain it in folksy, common sense terms.

Sanders and AOC are perfect for another reason. They get a free pass from the talk is cheap crowd. Heck, Sanders even got a pass on unanimous consent complaints when it came to nominees.

I often hear talk of a fifty state strategy in the context of fielding candidates to contest every seat in Congress. What I am talking about echoes something that Rep. Crockett said, a fifty state strategy that lays the philosophical ground work for a progressive agenda in terms anybody can get beyween cycles. To do that, you need people who are good at it, i.e., Sanders, AOC, Warren, etc.

This is the best counterpoint to complaints about leadership in Congress. I can't defend Senate Minority Leader Schumer. I think he's just a bad at the job on the merits, and not because I think he is somehow compromised, too old, etc, so I am not going to bother discussing him in this context.

Jeffries on the other hand strikes me as exactly what one would want in a House Minority Leader and Speaker. First and foremost, he can count votes. Sure you can find somthing you don't like about him. Sure he is a cerebral guy whose 'no drama Obama' air can ruffle the feathers of activists, but fireworks are what folks like Crockett are for. The way I see it, his job is to understand each Caucus member, and know how get them to come together as a team, and he's good at that.

Again, politics is a team sport. That's something Pelosi got. Despite all the grief from anti-establishment types, she was easily one of the best Speakers in my nearly seven decades on the planet. It came as a shock to many how within a fortnite AOC became a fan after working with her. Not to me though. It turns out the smear machine even worked on AOC until she saw for herself how consumate a Speaker Pelosi actually was. I knew AOC would get it.

So instead of demonizing Jeffries for not pushing up field to score goals, recognize he's good at midfield feeding the ball to strikers, falling back to help defenders, etc. Any coach will tell you most games are won or lost in midfield transition and containment. Situational awareness, figuring out when to push up, stay put, fall back, slide laterally, and to which side, makes it the hardest position to play in my opinion.

OK goalie is the worst. Long minutes of tedium interrupted at random intervals by seconds of sheer terror that seem unending is how I characterize it.

People with a particular skill set, a combination of speed, agility, ball handling and mindset, are strikers, but don't make the mistake of glorifying them at the expense of the rest of the team. What makes them particularly good at their position, single minded confidence that they know how to breakdown the otherside and put the ball in the back of the net to the delight of the crowd, is not desirable in every position. I've never met a one who thought they weren't open and the midfielder wasn't an idiot for not passing them the ball on every play.

Enough of the extended soccer metaphor. What prompted this post was this story about Rep. Robert Garcia and a discussion I had with community member Lemay50 in the comments section. Garcia got a warning letter from DoJ for calling Elon Musk a dick. I complained the media were going to ignore or soft-pedal the blatant politicization of DoJ, and Lemay50 suggested Garcia should repeat it until they have no choice put pick it up.

It struck me Lemay50 was on to something. Musk is a clearly a soft spot for the Administration that Democrats should exploit, and Garcia has pretty much volunteered for the job. I said he should double and triple down by apologizing for having mispoken. What he meant to say is Musk is a prick whose conduct is illegal, treasonous, and will get Americans killed. I went on to explain why in this lengthy reply which I won't repeat here because this post is long enough as it is.

At anyrate, I get the frustration with Democrats. I just don't get the need to tear them down by kvetching about them in apocalyptic terms whenever this or that office-holder does something boneheaded or objectionable, especially when the focus should be the Republican shit show on display. It's a bit counter-productive at this point, the equivalent of an own goal. The time for kvetching is when next the draft comes around, i.e., Primaries.

Now it's game on.

Oh, and the obvious musical Coda…

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