That Which Ails Us ...
Michael Gecan picks two targets of ire over the failings of the Democratic Party: star-struck hero-worship and quick-hit canvassing. Despite some minor quibbles, I think he's onto something. I guess the quibble that bugs me the most is cramming Bruce Springsteen into the hero-worship culture. I mean, come on ... Ben Affleck is so much more of an apt target for this comparison and The Boss' popularity transcends partisan divides. There's also the fact that Springsteen has been rather adamantly non-partisan in years past even if his entry into politics met an all-too-eager audience. The concert tour to promote the campaign might not have been the end-all of winning ideas for the party, but there's a bit more substance that goes into appreciating the music of Springsteen than the leather outfit of Warren Beatty.
It's that "star-struck" aspect that I think is relatively weak ... not that there's nothing to the argument, just that I think it cuts both ways and is more representative of society than it is just our side of the partisan divide. Last I checked, the GOP has hero-worship issues of their own and it even connects with celebrity status from time to time. Who's that Governor from California again? And who was it that the Bush family had MC the elder Bush's birthday at Minute Maid Park here in Houston (hint: he was on Saturday Night Live and the California GOP has actively recruited him to run statewide)? There were celebrities to be found on the GOP side this last go-round too, but it's kinda hush-hush when you're biggest name is Shannen Doherty and the publicity could get a little questionable when she goes on an alcohol-fueled papparazzi-fighting spree after her speech introducing some local pol from Wausau. Say what you will about Affleck (believe me, there's plenty), but the dude knew how to keep a lid on such behavior. Guess all those years with J-Lo tempered him a little.
The canvassing issue is one that is similarly imperfect in Gecan's analysis, but there's enough to it to make hay with. Blockwalking and canvassing is not the greatest of sciences. And its even a little questionable as an artform. Much has been written of the midwestern state operations with paid blockwalkers trying to meet their metrics moreso than delve deeper into the midwestern psyche and hear out voters who's issue sets were far different than the union activist or liberal college student on their doorstep. There is a central failing in any operation that competes with blockwalkers from the neighborhood with those imported from points elsewhere. Had Howard Dean made one lesson abundantly clear from the corn fields of Iowa, it was that this approach is a sure-fire failure. That said, I'm sure the letters from England asking Ohio voters to meet their global test for voting was similarly a turnoff.
One point that bears more examination, however, is the part about listening. I think that's now a price that we Democrats must pay in the process of being the minority party (even if only by a few percent). This is another one of those points in time where it's helpful to go back and read a few chapters of Bill Clinton's bio ... the part about where he attempted to come back from his failed re-election as Governor. In fact, go back and read all the parts about how Clinton dealt with electoral failure. So highlight the grafs on how he dealt with losing a bid for Congress while we're at it. There's an inevitable process of listening that goes with such moments.
When we lose elections locally, we're told that there's nothing wrong with the product ... nothing wrong with the brand ... we just have to work harder at getting our voters out. But Bill Clinton lost in a still overwhelmingly Democratic state in 1980 (and 1974). He still hit the hustings to hear out those who were angry at him, those who had left him on election day, and even those who would never have voted for him anyway. That would seem to be a much more intuitive lesson than listening to the echo chamber, sticking one's chest out proudly, and taking comfort in falsely thinking that you'd really won in some demented way or another.