E.J. Dionne, Jr.: A Different Kind of Malaise

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_different_kind_of_malaise_20100616/

A Different Kind of Malaise

Posted on Jun 16, 2010

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.


A weird malaise is haunting the Democratic Party.

That’s a risky word to use, I know. It’s freighted with bad history and carries unfortunate implications. So let’s be clear: President Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter, not even close. And Obama’s speech on Tuesday was nothing like Carter’s 1979 “malaise speech” in which Carter never actually used that word. Obama gave a good and sensible speech that was not a home run.

What’s odd is that Obama was seen as needing a home run. This is where the Democratic malaise comes in.

Democrats should feel a lot better than they do. They enacted a health care bill that had been their dream for more than 60 years. They pulled the country out of a terrifying economic spiral. They are on the verge of passing the biggest reform of Wall Street since the New Deal. The public has identified enemies that are typically seen as Republican allies: oil companies and big bankers. And given the Republicans’ past policies, the Gulf oil spill is at least as much their problem as Obama’s.

On top of this, the GOP seems to be doing all it can to make itself unelectable, veering far to the right and embracing a tea party movement that, at its extremes, preaches the need for revolution. That sounds more like the old New Left than a reinvigorated conservatism. Oh yes, and can you think of one thing Republicans stand for right now other than cutting spending? Never mind that they are conspicuously vague about what they’d cut.

Yet it is Democrats who are petrified, uncertain and hesitant—and this was true before the oil spill made matters worse. Obama’s bold rhetoric about “the need to end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels” was not matched by specifics because he knows that nearly a dozen Senate Democrats are skittish about acting. Why does it so often seem that Republicans are full of passionate intensity while Democrats lack all conviction?

snip//


From Plaquemines Parish to Wall Street, we are seeing what happens when government takes too hands-off an approach to private economic actors. Yet the GOP is managing to sell the idea that the big issue in this election should be—government spending.

Professor Obama and his allies ought to be ashamed of this. The cure for malaise, defined as “a sensation of exhaustion or inadequate energy to accomplish usual activities,” is to have a self-confident sense of purpose, and to act boldly in its pursuit.

[Jennicut]

1. Cowards in the Senate. Afraid of the carbon tax.

[pretzel4gore]

2. name rings a bell...

ej dionne...dionne ...? oh yeah, the busheviki warpig guy from '04 and so on....loved his bush junyer, he shore did, if i recall right...now he's saying the 'dems' have got a malaise? Well, aint that sad! maybe the dems should join the repukke party! CURED! No more malaise! ;)
(the biggest villain in the 'overthrow of liberal democracy' story is the PIGMEDIA. Not the oil co's, or the pols, or the repdems....or ralph. The mediawho liars rule the roost)

[babylonsister]

4. And I think Dionne nailed it. Dems are running scared instead

of doing, or at least attempting to do, what's necessary. If nothing else, they should be working on messaging to counteract the useless gop's.

[Go2Peace]

7. "they should be working on messaging"

well, in this respect you are certainly always doing your part. But even better than "messaging" is substance and leading. The "bully pulpit" is one of the most effective tools available.

"Messaging" is indeed what the Republicans tend to do well at. But it is just a wicked construct that is a substitute for what is really good in society. It is anti-democracy. And it is one of our biggest problems. Propaganda is no substitute for real values and fixing what ails the country.

It is a shame that we end up resorting to becoming like the Republicans instead of becoming a more effective governing party and getting our own act to the place where it should be.

We need to recognize "messaging" for what it is too often used for. A replacement for real substance.

[treestar]

9. the internal contradictions here are scary

We aren't allowed to have any message or work together; yet the President must do everything on his own with a ton of criticism from his own party saying he's not doing enough fast enough.

find anybody who can succeed under those circumstances.

Not only are you part of the problem, you are the problem. That's why the Democrats can't act with the confidence you demand. They don't have a solid party behind them. Just carping at them for not doing enough; no support.

Reminds me of the "X" manager vs. the "Y" manager. Too many X managers on the left - they remind me of right wingers - treating people as if they won't do anything or be inspired unless they are told they are no good and can't do anything.

[Teaser]

5. Dionne?

Show me the columns from 2004 on where he was supportive of Bush.

He's always been a partisan liberal.

[pretzel4gore]

8. c'mon...when did dionne register on the rightwing hate list?

when did he ever get the michael moore/jane fonda etc type treatment? even dan rather seemed to play into the rightwing game as part of very lucrative retirement...see tom brocawcaw, or sam donaldson, or peter ($56 million estate) jenning ...dinonne still going strong, like judeas miller...and you're still stuck with $13 trillion losses

[bornskeptic]

10. What does this have to do with your false assertion that E J Dionne supported the Iraq War?

If your political gurus are Michael Moore and Jane Fonda, E J Dionne will probably be too intellectual for you.

[pretzel4gore]

11. why get p'off?

i'm just saying ej dionne was in a position years ago to defy the busheviks, and did not. Neither did bill maher, or dave letterman, or mathews, or brocaw, or bob Scheiffer, or anybody? Some rightwinger spat in Jane Fonda's face- Jeanne Garafalo got bounced from Air America for being too outspoken. Michael Moore got untold death threats- his 'michaelmoore.com' forum was driven off the internet, as was "mediawhoresonline' and its forum. And you have the psychic energy to get mad at an old burned out geezer like me for dissing ej dionne?

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Actually, Bill Maher lost his TV show 'Politically Incorrect'

for not towing the line, and Moore, while he is a fav of mine, made piles of money off of his films during the Bush era. As did Bill in the end. Garafalo is an actor on 24. Six figure a week punishment, I guess.
So considering these facts, how about a link to Dionne supporting Bush? Because you have some odd standards. And some obvious holes in your knowledge.

[pretzel4gore]

16. it's the holes ...where idears get through!

sometimes, i'm only one who understands me...myself. If i had Nexus/Plexus, i'd dig up the link for you... i know ej dionne was often 'oneofthem' back in the day, cuz i was furious at the so called liberals who overlooked the fact bush was a plain fraud, and was gonna cost us $$$ (which hasn't even started to become due, yet) OTOH, if youse guys think EJ is fundy decent; then ...ok. Let's go with that

[rucky]

3. I don't think we can blame this all on one DU-er.

[RBInMaine]

6. Dionne is spot on. Base Dems need to quit all the doom and glooming and focus on the positives. We

have a chance to smash down the TeaHater RePUKES bigtime in Nov. with a record of real accomplishment. Here in Maine, the RePUKES just nominated their most far right TeaHater candidate for Gov. and adopted the TeaHater platform. Make no mistake that Mainers are going to know what the RePUKE party has turned into here in the moderate/progressive state of Maine. So let's quit all this down in the mouth nonsense and start bashing RePUKES good and hard the way we are supposed to. If we do that, stick together, look to the positives (we're a hell of a lot better off without McSAME and Failin Palin in the White House), we'll be just fine come November. And even if Obama's speech wasn't a "home run," it sure as hell was a good solid triple. And what's wrong with that?

[Number23]

12. The word seems to be out. The doom and gloom coming from a few too many members

of the "left" seems to have worked everybody's last nerve. Perhaps it will stop now...?????

[depakid]

13. Here's news- it's the left that's been pushing bold confident action

and the administration and congressional "leadership" that's been acting timid and complicit (when they haven't been pandering to the right).

Just last week, the administration interceded over efforts to limit CEO compensation- a true

:wtf:

moment,

And the House drops the Senate's 64 vote measure to rid the ratings companies of blatant conflicts of interest.

That ain't "the left's" doing. Nor of course was the decision to triangulate on offshore drilling....

[Number23]

17. I'm sure that your post makes sense to you, depakid.

You keep screaming that this administration is "pandering to the right." With the vast majority of Americans up in arms (rightly or wrongly) that Obama is "too liberal," you'll have lots of agreement here but little in the real world - a place you seem to have no idea even exists.

[pscot]

18. Maybe you have a link

for that poll where a majority says Obama is too liberal? For those of us who don't live in the real world.

[Number23]

19. If you need a link to every news org in the world

then I'm sorry but I really can't help you.

[pscot]

20. You offer a rightwing talking point

as the factual basis for your argument. You can't back it up, which is typical of rightwing rhetoric. Google is your friend if you have the energy and intellect to use it. Well, not YOUR friend. Not this time.

[Number23]

22. It is not a right wing talking point that this country considers itself

more conservative than liberal. It is the truth. It is not a right wing talking point that many in this country consider Obama a liberal and are more inclined towards policies pitched by "conservatives" even if the policy itself may be considered progressive.

And I am so incredulous that someone on this board is trying to pretend that what I'm saying is news that I actually Googled instead of just telling you to look it up your damned self. Here ya go - http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/conservatives-single-largest-ideological-group.aspx

And if you're going to go out of your way to act as though you don't understand how this country works and how jacked up it is in terms of political ideology, could you at least take the time and find a graph that isn't 6 years old to bolster your ridiculous argument?

ETA: Hooked you up with more articles - "More Americans See Democratic Party as "Too Liberal"

http://www.gallup.com/poll/121307/more-americans-see-democratic-party-too-liberal.aspx

Quote - "The increasing perception of the Democrats as too far left comes as President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have expanded the government's role in the economy to address the economic problems facing the country."

And this one from this year - "Poll: Half say Dems 'too liberal'"

Nearly half of Americans describe the Democratic Party as “too liberal,” up 10 percentage points since early 2008 according to a new Gallup Poll.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38487.html#ixzz0rSkrXuMh

[depakid]

21. You have no idea what you're talking about-

but as always, proffer inane rationalizations and what you think are putdowns.

(Here's another clue: they're laughable- and people do actually laugh at them).

Closer to our "reality"- a similar thing has been happening to Rudd- didn't seem to believe in things enough to fight for them. The electorate hasn't much liked that- though it remains to be seen just how much support is actually going to the Greens as opposed to Liberals (i.e. conservatives) on the Federal level.

[Number23]

23. Depa, having you tell me or anyone on this planet that they don't know what they're talking about

is the height of praise considering how clueless and wrong you are about EVERYTHING. Not most things -- EVERYTHING.

Stop replying to me and ignore me as thoroughly as I do to you and you won't feel so constantly insulted.

[Name removed]

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