Democrats need to get their act together

Democrats split over position on Iraq war.

This is very discouraging and kind of sickening. This article states that Democratic voters want a definite exit strategy in Iraq and overwhelmingly they want the Democratic leadership to offer an alternative plan of action for this ever-increasing folly.

But the Democrats have no consensus, there's no unity, they aren't listening to the voters and they don't want to offer a plan of their own. Isn't that the job of an opposition party? Don't they need to rub it in everyone's faces not just that they would handle the situation differently, but how they would handle it differently. I think one of the most insulting answers I've seen to all of this is when Howard Dean said that it was the responsibility of the president, not the opposition, to come up with a plan for Iraq. What the hell? Yes, it is his job.

It's no wonder the Democrats are losing miserably. They have great ideas but horrible strategy. The democrats need to sit down and hammer out a proposal for the handling of Iraq and introduce it to those who could enact it. They need to show leadership. When I was in debate in high school, it was called a "counter-plan." I won many rounds as the opposition by simply offering a better, more well-thought out plan. It's no wonder that no one sees strong leaders in the Democratic party, because they don't act like leaders. I know Kerry is doing his best at the moment, it's actually impressed me how he's been able to use the attention from his campaign to raise national awareness for his bills in the Senate, but it's not enough.

If the Democrats offer an alternative plan and the current regime stays the course, wouldn't it stand to reason they could use that to press an advantage in the mid-terms and the presidential race? It makes sense to me.

I want to say this: I'm a registered Independent and I voted for Kerry after a long debate with myself at the polls. I didn't vote for Kerry because he was a great leader, I voted for Kerry because I wanted him to get more votes than Bush. If the Democrats want to pull themselves out of this slump, they need to get people to vote for leaders, not dissatisfaction with the opposition party. We need an ACTUAL opposition party and the Democrats are so confused and used to losing they just aren't fielding opposition the way they should.

A good first step is a unified, well publicized platform outlining an alternative proposal in Iraq. Kerry claimed to have a winning plan to fix it, start with that as the basis. Then talk to the constituents and ask for thier input, because if they don't like the plan, they won't vote for you. Then deliver it to the President. If the plan is what the other half of the country wants, Bush will most likely ignore it, further polarizing the majority of Americans who want to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

If they were smart, they'd go down to Crawford and announce it at Camp Casey.

But what do I know?