The Demoralized Dems

Howard Fineman has a piece in Newsweek about the troubles plaguing the Democratic party and the demoralized attitude of some of their big money backers. Here are a couple of reasons why:

Lack of star power
These things go in cycles, I guess, and it’s hard to be glamorous when you are in the minority in both houses of Congress. That said, it’s incontestably true that the Democrats simply aren’t blessed with much charisma in the leadership ranks—unless you consider Angelina Jolie a Democrat.

The GOP has Rudy, Colin, Arnold, McCain and Condi—just to name a few: big, bold, controversial characters. Good copy if nothing else. The more or less official roster of titular Democratic leaders includes Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and 2004 nominee John Kerry. ‘Nuff said.

Hillary love and fear
The purported inevitability of Hillary Rodham Clinton excites some Democrats, but deeply depresses some others, both inside and outside the Beltway.

Her forcefulness and talent—not to mention her well-oiled money machine—bring respect from party insiders and outsiders alike. But there is an undercurrent of unease about the "Back to the Future" quality of another Clinton candidacy. Do we really want to relive the Clinton Years? Under their breath, even many Clinton acolytes tend to say “NO.”

No doubt the Dems will feel a temporary lift from Bush's low approval ratings, DeLay's indictment, and Frist's stock sale, but Bush can't run for office again, DeLay's indictment is likely to fall apart thanks to the party hack DA who drove the grand jury to bring it, and Frist's stock sale is likely to survive scrutiny. Short term "scandals" or temporary dips in poll numbers do not translate into electoral victories. The Dems still have a lot of problems. Even the Washington Post thinks the DeLay indictment smells, and if they have problems with it, it's definately in trouble.

There's one other problem that the Dems didn't anticipate during their gleeful gloating about DeLay. The indictment welded the House GOP together at a time when they were badly fractured. This newly energized and united group will now push as one to enact their agenda, and the Dems don't have the numbers to stop them. As Admiral Yamamoto was famous for saying after the Pearl Harbor attack, "I fear we may have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve". You may soon be able to attribute that quote to Nancy Pelosi.

You can read the rest of Fineman's article here.