Once we win the White House, how do we keep it?

[SavageWombat]

Now that the election's in the bag (knock on wood), we need to start planning for 2008.

We know that as soon as Kerry takes office, the Mighty Right-Wing Wurlitzer is going to open up on him. Everything that goes wrong, no matter how much Bush screwed it up in the first place, will be cause for Kerry's impeachment from the radical right.

If we want to create a sustainable Democratic majority, we can't count on Republicans to realize that Kerry's doing a better job - they'll never hear the news. But we have to win some of them over - if we don't make inroads into the Republican base, we'll never get the right-wing radicals out of government altogether.

We're never going to get the fundamentalist vote.
We're never going to get the corporate vote.
We're never going to get the anti-government vote.

What's left?

I think we have to go after the military vote.

I think John Kerry's going to have to spend the next four years PROVING that Democrats take better care of military matters than Republicans. I think he'll have to push through military pay raises, military benefits, veterans' benefits, and anything else it takes to get U.S. soldiers to realize that while Republicans care about bombs and lasers, Democrats care about soldiers and their families. And he'll have to practically shout it from the rooftops to get the message to the troops.

I think Kerry's going to have to show the voters that he can take decisive action in Iraq - he's going to need to show them in four years that he WON the Iraq war, not just left in disgrace or waited until it fell over. And this is going to be painful, because the press will be waiting for the slightest misstep.

I think Kerry's going to have to show the American public that he will take military action overseas when necessary, even if he finds it abhorrent - otherwise the Dems get stuck with the bleeding-heart pacifist label for another generation or two.

If Kerry can do this, without alienating his own left wing base, I think he'll win reelection handily. He'll pull in southern votes, overseas votes, and weaken the Republican base dramatically. Especially when the average "Nascar Dad" type realizes that Kerry's doing a great job of protecting his country.

Opinions?

[freetobegay]

1. Don't put up a for sale sign, like Bush did.

[goforit]

2. By RE-Instituting the CONSTITUTION!!!!!.....And Clean house!!!!

[flobee1kenobi]

3. No more Lewinski moments

and we'll be just fine

Just need to keep our nose clean, and do the job, and we'll have that place for decades

[IrateCitizen]

4. I don't consider myself part of a "WE" if Kerry wins...

I just see him as a lesser impediment to the implementation of progressive reforms than the current squatter.

I'm all for continuing to battle the Right Wing, but we shouldn't pretend that this still won't be a two-front war. Kerry will have a lot of pressure on him from a lot of interests that stand in the way of progressive reform. We will have to push him HARD, while at the same time fighting back the right wing and building our own movement.

(Sigh) It all sounds so daunting when I say it like that.

ON EDIT -- I should take the time to read more carefully once in a while.

I stand against EVERYTHING you just said regarding Iraq. Should Kerry follow the path you suggest, then he will not have my vote in 2008. I'm not saying that because I'm some sort of purist. I say that because I could never bring myself to support an overt, bloodthirsty imperialist. I have enough trouble supporting someone who espouses imperialism with a humanitarian face.

[Career Prole]

5. Strongly disagree with this...

I think Kerry's going to have to show the American public that he will take military action overseas when necessary, even if he finds it abhorrent - otherwise the Dems get stuck with the bleeding-heart pacifist label for another generation or two.
First off, I don't consider pacifism something I'm "stuck" with. It's something I chose after seeing the other option.
Secondly, Kerry has already said he wouldn't shrink from using force if the situation called for it. Are you proposing that Kerry should "take military action overseas" just to prove he's tough?
Sorry...that's a chickenhawk game. Real men don't play that.

[Infomaniac]

6. I think the ticket to Kerry's success is that we must remain mobilized.

We know from the Clinton years that the RW doesn't abide by the results of national elections and will try very hard to undermine the Kerry Administration. We have to remain vigilant and involved in the process. We should be backing Kerry's legislative agenda by letting our congressional reps know of our support and keeping the media whores on notice. We need to make sure our message gets out through as many media channels as possible. We need to welcome Republican moderates to our party because I feel that many moderates are sick to death of the RWers. We need a great turnout for the '06 mid-term elections too. Tomorrow is just the start.

[Skidmore]

7. Clean house

in our party and in government. Close down K street and make those people go back to legitimate work. Govern from the perspective of "the least of these". Work for the people!!!

[Squeech]

8. Disagree

Iraq is a clusterf*@&, not amenable to a purely military solution, plus there's no way that attempting a military solution wouldn't alienate the left-wing base.

But there are plenty of domenstic opportunities for toughness-- like prosecuting the bandits that have been pushing the war just so they could rip off the treasury, entities like Halliburton and Enron. Ex-prosecutor John Kerry could easily gain real fans among true (fiscal) conservatives by pursuing such public "nuisance" types.

On edit: what Skidmore said.

[Seabiscuit]

9. The biggest problem with the Democratic Party today is

Congress. You know, the wimpy-assed sellouts like Tom Daschle and Joe Lieberman. We have to go after those a-holes with all guns blazing as soon as they're up for re-election and run strong campaigns for progressives like Barak Obama, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, etc. We need to take back the Congress like never before in our history. And we need to replace any retiring Supreme Court justice with progressives as well - an impossible job given the current makeup of the Congress.

Finally, we need to keep the pressure on Kerry full-steam to quit playing politics once the election's over and force his hand with strong public opinion to become more like the first JFK, RFK, and Howard Dean.

[VOX]

10. The media, the media, the media...

They control the flow of information, and they filter it. I don't know how feasible a return to the fairness doctrine is at this point, but it needs to be reinstated if there's to be real democracy.

Part of the continuing Democratic activism will be to keep the media as honest as possible, and when they go after Kerry (as they will in a way that they never went after *), it up to Democrats to let the media know that their game is transparent.

[More Than A Feeling]

11. 2008? First, get Kerry a Democratic congress in 2006

If we don't get it this time. Have to work one election at a time to take this country back

[Kanary]

12. Sounds like you're still stuck on "centrism". That's lost us elections

before, why continue on a losing path?

The energetic base that is now working it's tail off to GOTV, and reinvigorate the party is NOT centrist. It is the Left, who are sacrificing some of their own ideals to make this one election work. Shun them, and watch them leave to a 3rd party, and there goes your hope of *ANY* further elections.

However, start the real work of getting back the traditional Dem base of labor, poor, minorities, anti-war, and work hard to gain those who don't vote, and you will see a Party, like in FDR's time, that will sweep this country with it's energy and ideas.

I can't emphasize this strongly enough. The Party traditional base has been crapped on and dissed waaay too much, and will split in the blink of an eye if there isn't a strong turn in this party.

The DLCers right here on DU sneered and said they didn't need the "leftists". If that attitude continues, watch the party completely go the way of dinosaurs.

Kanary

[SavageWombat]

14. I'm not interested in moving to the center...

I'm interested in moving the center towards us.

We have trouble only because the Repubs have convinced the world that we're outside the American mainstream.

Somehow, we have to convince America that we, not the right wing, are the norm.

In vote terms, that means stealing away some of the right-wing base.


Secondly: Wouldn't you rather be arguing with real conservatives instead of these neocons?

We need to fix their party as much as we need to fix ours. To do that, we have to disrupt their solidarity somehow.

[Kanary]

16. What I'm sick of, is "arguing" with the Dems!

I don't bother with neocons. Talk about a colossal waste of time.

Same with committed conservatives.

Talk about throwing your energy down a toilet.......... "fixing 'their' party" is about the most useless waste of energy I can even imagine.

Do you realize there are people in this very country who are dying because we can't bother to spend a few minutes making phone calls? That's not important. Yet, you'll waste time on people who don't give a shit about you or anyone esle.

Un-frickin'-real.

Kanary

[IrateCitizen]

17. I'd call what you're interested in another name...

That name would be GENOCIDE.

Let's review again what you're advocating:

I think Kerry's going to have to show the voters that he can take decisive action in Iraq - he's going to need to show them in four years that he WON the Iraq war, not just left in disgrace or waited until it fell over. And this is going to be painful, because the press will be waiting for the slightest misstep.

What decisive action then do you suggest? One that will essentially annihilate the entire country of Iraq and kill millions? I would say that it is, because that is the only way that the US will be able to achieve a military victory there. Things have broken down so much due to the occupation that "winning hearts and minds" is out of the question. And should we annihilate the entire country of Iraq, it will cause the kind of blowback on us that will make 9/11 look like a day in the park.

I think Kerry's going to have to show the American public that he will take military action overseas when necessary, even if he finds it abhorrent - otherwise the Dems get stuck with the bleeding-heart pacifist label for another generation or two.

So, you're saying that we need to engage in immoral, illegal war in order to shed the "bleeding-heart pacifist label" and ensure electoral victory? Sorry, if that's the game you're playing, you can count me out. These kinds of things affect real people, with real names and real faces. I've met some of them. Can't say I care to engage in the kind of inhumanity you're advocating.

If Kerry can do this, without alienating his own left wing base, I think he'll win reelection handily. He'll pull in southern votes, overseas votes, and weaken the Republican base dramatically. Especially when the average "Nascar Dad" type realizes that Kerry's doing a great job of protecting his country.

If Kerry would do this his base would abandon him, and rightly so. You just don't realize how many anti-war folks bit their lip and ponied up for him this election, do you? We even did so in spite of the fact that he was NOT signalling that we would advocate the near-immediate withdrawl of troops. You honestly expect us to eschew nearly every principle we have in order to win? Sorry, bub -- I don't think that will play.

Your suggestions are not only questionable strategically, they are utterly repugnant, morally speaking. If I weren't such a nice person, I'd tell you to shove your suggestions up your ass sideways, and then go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.

Oh, wait... I just did tell you to shove it up your ass sideways and then go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.

[SavageWombat]

18. Geez, chill a bit ...

I know you're Irate, but I'm on your side here.

I'm not advocating the annihilation of Iraq any more than you are.

I AM saying that if Kerry does nothing to solve the problem that Bush has created, then the Republicans will beat him with that stick for the next eight years.

I opposed the invasion of Iraq from the get-go, but the fact is we don't have it to do over again. We're stuck with Bush's idiocy. Now we have to get out of it with a minimum of bloodshed on both sides.

Pulling our troops out prematurely is effectively dooming Iraqis to a slow, painful death. Do you want Iraq to become another Afghanistan?

I trust and pray that John Kerry can find the best way out of the mess Bush created. But attitudes like yours are going to be a hindrance, not a help, to that process.

And that degree of knee-jerk hostility certainly won't help come election day. More flies with honey than vinegar, IrateCitizen.

[Cleita]

13. Question more than an anwer but,

why don't we outlaw political philosophies that are in conflict with our Constitution? I mean I know we went through that nasty period in the fifties with the McCarthy communist witch hunts and no one wants to go back there.

However, it seems that extreme right wing ideaology is in direct conflict with our ideas of democracy and certainly in conflict with the Constitution. I could also say that extreme left wing ideology where the nation controls everything and denies a certain autonomy to the states would also be in conflict with our democratic ideals as spelled out in the Constitution. The fact that both extremes victimizes a segment of the population to take care of it's adherents should be enough to make them rogue parties and treasonous in concept.

It seems that if we had some really clear cut laws on this, we could have rid ourselves of BushCo before they even took office. The PNAC neocon ideology is in direct conflict with how our nation's democracy is outlined in the Constitution.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Offer ranked voting. I'll give K/E my first ranking if they'll do that,

even if I would rather put the Greens or Socialists first, because it is worth that much to me.

http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm