Murray on the Democratic Revivial
For now, I present to one and all Richard Murray's memo
Texas Democrats in the 21st Century:
Will They Go Quietly Into that Good Night? ? Or Be the Comeback Kids of the 2006 Elections?
By Richard Murray
[PDF]
Analysis:
In joking about the number of times I've referenced my brief 3-month internship with the Progressive Policy Institute, I make mention to a friend that I think I've passed up John Kerry in the number of times he's mentioned Vietnam. In my own defense, I think I'll blame this not on any vanity on my part, but rather two facts that still remain with me:
Its that last point that keeps this brief memory high on my list of reasons for mentioning it. TPOE was one of those magical, seminal events when the stars came together in perfect alignment. Democrats perfectly defined the critique of our own party's problems at the Presidential level. Bill Clinton took the booklet and lived and breathed it in his 1992 campaign for President.
University of Houston Professor Richard Murray has now done something potentially close to the this with his own analysis. On the whole, the tone is a bit informal, but well thought out. The critique is, as should be expected, dead on.
Murray begins with an analysis of how we got to this point. If I could summarize the problem that afflicted us, as Murray spells out in greater detail, I'd say it was inertia. We were content to live with the battles that raged within the party between the Yarbarough and Connally wings for the most part. There were occassional signs of peace, such as the 1982 unified campaign in which Lloyd Bentsen carried Jim Hightower, Ann Richards, Jim Mattox, and Garry Mauro on his back to statewide wins. Of course, as we all know, this was close to the end of the road for Texas Dems, as Hightower would pay for endorsing Jesse Jackson and upsetting apple carts with the Farm Bureau, losing to a State Rep. by the name of Rick Perry in the 1990 election. Kay Bailey Hutchison would also go on to defeat another liberal Dem in Nikki Van Hightower in that same election. Its been downhill ever since as Democrats have obviously never fully regrouped.
The section in which Murray goes over the list of failed ideas to revive the party reads much like the PPI's Myths ... replace the Myth of the Congressional Bastion with Murray's mocking of "Demography is destiny" for example. It is this section that Democrats must read most closely if they have an interest in survivial.
By the time Murray gets to point 7 on this section, though, there's a gray area:
Murray doesn't completely dismiss this idea, noting that it is merely "highly risky." I'd agree with Murray on the grounds that this is certainly risky and there's no time like the present to correct course. What I think is left out on this front, however, is how Democrats will cope with shifting demographics over time ... both in terms of policy and elections. Its another line of thought that warrants another white paper, of course, but its one that warrants attention. What, if anything, do we risk seeing undone by any corrective actions as Texas becomes a majority-minority state even among voting age population? Obviously, the push among the state GOP is to narrow the focus of Texas Dems to minority communities, making it next to impossible to win over new votes in Anglo areas without fear of neglecting one's base back home.
Murray's thought on the need for polling and a think tank, and even a state-styled DLC all warrant some attention (and dollars!). I'd expect a lot of mileage to come from this idea over time as Dr. Murray's name alone will ensure that the idea goes far and wide. Stay tuned ... I'm sure there's more to come on this.
ADD-ON: