Take a look at this next paragraph and see if you can spot the Dem's problem:It was a bit startling the other morning to hear Sen. Charles Schumer of New York -- the garrulous poster boy of Democratic liberalism -- intone that New Deal Democracy is over. But also, he added just as surprisingly, so is Reagan Republicanism.
Schumer, who as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is charged with leading his party's effort to retake control of the Senate in November, was in a reflective mood. He said he was looking past that critical challenge to the longer-term prospects of the party, and he didn't sound optimistic.
As important as it was to regain a majority in the Senate to put the brakes on President Bush in his final two White House years, Schumer said, the greater test for Democrats was to connect with average voters in a time of his party's disconnect with them.
[...]
"We don't have 80 words" to sum up the Democratic agenda, he lamented. "We don't have eight."
"We stopped being Democrats talking to small people on the issues" as Reagan so effectively did, he argued. Then he launched into a monologue on his party's failure -- and the Republicans' success -- in communicating to average voters about the day-to-day matters that concern them most.
"Small people"? Is Schumer talking about dwarfs or midgets? Could he be referring to jockeys?
No, "small people" in Dem language is you and me. We're "small" because we're not members of Congress, other political leaders, or bigwig contributors. What Chuckie misses is the fact that when Reagan talked to "small people" he didn't consider them to be "small people". He considered them his fellow Americans. It's the arrogance of the Dem leadership toward the taxpaying public that will keep them confined to minority status.
As long as the Dem leadership considers the voters to be "small people", they have no hope of coming up with a message that will be attractive.
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