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Democratic Strategy - Part 3 "Go boldly..." [1]
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Date: 2025-03-13
Abe Lincoln once described a general’s lack of action and awareness by saying he was “confused and stunned, like a duck hit on the head — unsure of what to do next.” That quote was in response to General Rosecrans trying to recover from the defeat at Chickamauga.
Lincoln’s quote also describes the Democratic Party’s current dilemma to a T. There are quite a few diaries this evening decrying Senator Schumer’s capitulation on the CR funding bill. But in truth, why would anyone be surprised by this? It is exactly like a retreating army, unable to turn and stand against an opponent that clearly has them on the run.
The Democratic retreat is both a victory for the President and a failure of the Democratic Party to; a) communicate, b) coordinate and c) plan anything.
But more than anything else — it is a failure to be bold . Once again, the Democrats are playing it safe (as if the 2024 election hadn’t taught them anything). This lack of strategy and seemingly incoherent approach cannot even be characterized as a Prevent Defense — it’s much less than that because some Democrats are voting to codify Trump’s actions along with the GOP.
Let’s step back for a moment and think about that. Not only is the Party not accepting its role as the Opposition (step 1) and not defining its positions clearly (step 2), it’s not able to organize a unified response and has done a horrible job of explaining why the CR shouldn’t be passed. What in the heck are these guys doing? They had days to huddle and come up with a plan — but giving up seems as though it was their plan.
A unified response of course needs to be thought of — before — the last moment and must include a) shared talking points and b) a commitment from all key party members. In this recent budget battle, it’s been quite literally everyone for themselves. Both the new Party Chairman & the House and Senate leaders have faceplanted here — it’s a disaster. In fact, they should all consider stepping aside and letting some folks who are willing to be bold take their places.
All that the Democratic spokespeople seem to be able to say tonight is that it was a hard choice. Well, jeez — sorry guys that you’ve been asked to do your job, but did you go to Washington because you thought it would be easy and fun? There is much to criticize from tonight’s fiasco. So far, only a handful of Democrats have stood up and voiced opposition and been ready to stand by that position boldly.
Step 3 of the new Democratic Party Strategy is this — the only Defense is an effective (e.g. unified) offense. Spending every moment on your back heal is no way to live guys — it’s time to be bold and stop playing it safe. Maybe the Dems thought Trump would use the shutdown to take over the government — well guess what, he’s already doing that and he is now promising to invoke the Insurrection Act as soon as this weekend.
There is nothing that this President won’t do if you keep letting him.
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