It's not looking pretty...

Have you ever felt the certainty surrounding the phrase "they don't deserve to win" uttered in the final moments of your favorite bowl game, as you watch your team crumble, melt down and hand the win over, in the face of the opposition? That's how things feel today, after yesterday's events in the Senate.

A stronger team, much more polished, 'thirsty' for a "win" after years of 'beatings' as they were pushed by the 'league's bully', can not come together and overrun less than half a bench of sour, quasi-leaderless fellows.

The blogs were burning today. Some excerpts follow. And one can only wander what the future holds. Take a look at the notes below.

Now, let's just think what the party in power can do when the conditions include 50 million uninsured, 20% unemployment, the nation's coffers ransacked by Wall Street, private retirement pools vanished, etc., etc. How many people in those conditions and what would one need to do to rally them up to one's side? How many "good" speech writers and PR agencies would it take to have the best cheer-leading "squad" in the bleachers, on your side?

And yet, all that 'feel good' energy before the 'game' is gone: a sour taste, signaling hopelessness, is sinking in.

If this party can not get this 'done', given all its "assets" and "political capital", don't get your hopes up for the challenges ahead. Health care should have been an easy 'win', having so many rooting for you. Just look up and watch what is coming: global warming, environment, sluggish economy - transformed into something we still have no idea of what it can be, (but one thing is for sure, it will not be what it was) -  energy, immigration reform, etc. IF these elected officials can not get this done, the upcoming issues  will suffer similar disasters.

The sickness is contagious. Half a day's flight away, the party in power in Georgia is melting down and still not a voice has been heard, rallying the opposing team to the bleachers. Not one cheer, save what is reported - journalistic-ally - in the newspaper, which is getting all kinds of flack for reporting the 'laundry list' of abuses: ethical, legislative, operational, personal, etc. Reporting reality becomes akin to "liberal bias".

This would have been the time for a "shot across the bow", a shot rallying the 'troops'. "Here we are - let's fix this!", would-be-cry has not been uttered, nor heard.

So, at a local level, the opportunity is squandered. At a national level, "more of the same".

Robert Reich said it truly: "democracy has been overrun by capitalism". Don't "dream" any more. "Change" is more of the same: maybe just the "tune" is sweeter.

The references that follow are from Daily Kps, picked up today, Dec 15th., 2009.


Daily Kos: State of the Nation

"This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

They have concluded that Democrats cannot govern worth a damn. They may well be right.

So, congratulations, guys. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to singlehandedly imperil a Congressional majority and return bargaining power to a political party that has been spending the last five years circling the drain. Perhaps John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will send you a "thank you" card.

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

If the solution is that the Democrats do absolutely nothing with their Congressional majorities over the next eleven months, then the consultant in question is right: the environment is not going to get better. It will undoubtedly get worse. After all, if there's nothing to be gained from fighting to maintain or expand a Democratic majority, the base will stay home.

Republicans will hate Democratic lawmakers anyway for even proposing reform, and non-affiliated voters will correctly conclude that you are not fit to govern.

Doesn't exactly sound like a recipe for electoral success.