Please Take Our Survey

The Democratic National Committee has a survey up now to find out what Dems think about their experiences with the 2004 election.

Question 7 reads:
Please share other thoughts and comments you have about the 2004 election and what Democrats and the Democratic Party should do going forward.

My response was:

Prior to looking forward, we should be still taking a hard look at what’s happened in the last week to make sure we’ve really lost.

Kerry should not have conceded so quickly. To say he wouldn't concede until every vote was counted, then concede less than 24 hours later just bought into the indecisive "flip flopper" image that the Republicans pushed so hard into the American psyche. Can we please count the votes first? ALL of the votes?

There are, however, several points that the Democrats MUST face before the next Presidential election. In no particular order, they are:

* Voter Fraud: The faith-based initiative of voting electronically without any paper trail to verify if the machine actually recorded your vote as you had intended to vote is completely wrong-headed. We cannot hold safe and fair elections if we are trusting the entire democratic process to machine manufacturers and computer programmers. Hardware fails. Software can be hacked. We need a better system of voting -- a National system of voting, overseen by the Federal Government -- that is uniform and can be trusted by everyone, not just the manufacturers who come out and state they will make sure Bush wins.


* Voter Fraud II: There needs to be a thorough investigation, spearheaded by the Press concerning the numerous incidents in the 2004 election of voting irregularities in key states, especially Florida and Ohio. The national press seems to be downplaying this important issue right now and unless we work to insist that the story be covered, it will disappear.


* We need to work to make the Press accountable for it's actions and inactions. They've turned into mouthpieces for this administration, lacking backbone and courage to ask the tough questions they're supposed to ask for all of us.


* The Republicans sideswiped many of us by pushing their "Moral Issues" agenda. Fear, in all of its ugly forms (racist, homophobic, sexist, etc.) is an amazing motivating factor in getting people out to vote. It's a sad commentary on our society, but this election has shown that it's also very effective. As news junkies, we spent much of our time watching, reading and listening to a variety of news sources in the months before the election. I don’t' recall hearing much of anything, especially from the Democrats, about the need to address "Moral Issues".

I do not understand how the people running the Democratic Party were able to miss such an important issue. This type of intelligence failure not only demonstrates that the party coordinators are out of touch with issues that galvanize half of the electorate, but it shows that they are not waging the type of campaigns Democrats need to wage if we expect to win back the Presidency.


* Democrats Are Now Seen as Lacking Moral Values: This is a direct result of the 2004 election and the way in which Republicans co-opted and framed certain issues. This perception issue is not going to go away and is going to be capitalized on by the Republicans for years to come unless something is done about it quickly.


* Appeal to the Base: The Democratic Party has, for too long now, tried to widen it's appeal to encompass All People and, particularly in the 2004 election, the "Undecideds." This is a fatal error that I believe not only cost Democrats votes, but also made us easy targets on a number of issues for Republican charges.

What's wrong with being a Democrat and being proud of it? The message that we seem to be getting from the party leadership is that our message isn't "good enough" for the general public. So we soften some of the edges (anti-war) while hardening others (guns, defense) and all that ends up doing is creating a mish-mosh of a mess that no one is really happy with.

How did the Republicans motivate people? By sticking to a core Republican message and not apologizing for it. Instead of being seen as excluding, this type of message is seen as Strength and Determination, of Knowing What We Believe In. The electorate clearly wants someone with that type of belief in themselves. Let's give it to them.


* Replace Democratic Party Leadership: The 2004 Team did not get the job done in the way it should have been done. Let others learn from their mistakes and let them be replaced. The last thing we need is for Democratic leaders to continue making those same mistakes and think there’s no personal responsibility for their actions and for the American public to see the same Democratic leadership faces in four years when we try to take the White House back.


* No Narrow Issue Conventions: The Democratic National Convention was primarily focused on two broad themes: (a) John Kerry’s service in Vietnam makes him worthy of being a leader and (b) Bush’s actions over the past four years makes him unworthy of being a leader. While some preaching to the faithful is always a good idea, these were not new messages to any Democrat. At the same time, if any non-Democrat was watching the proceedings, they only received those two messages over and over and over again.

There were plenty of other topics to discuss, plenty of other issues that needed to be brought before the American public. To me, this was a feel-good time for the Democrats but it was also a wasted opportunity to get more ideas out into the press and into the American public’s mind.

* Clearly Define Solutions/Alternatives to Tough Issues: Too many people, Republicans, Press, etc., all said that Kerry lacked the specifics for his plans. Were there solutions? Of course there were. Were they clearly communicated to the public? No.

Pointing people to a website is all fine and good, but it doesn’t answer the question right when someone wants to know the answer. By telling people to go online for the answer it gives the appearance that (a) the issue is too complicated to answer here and now (and if that’s true, how many people are going to want to read it?), (b) the candidate doesn’t really know the answer and/or (c) the candidate doesn’t really have an answer.


* Do Not Wait To Refute Charges: Not responding immediately and with great force to the Swift Boat ads was a major mistake. It's the type of mistake in the business world that cost people their jobs. By "taking the high road" over charges that were factually inaccurate and not responding to them, you only gave the Republicans more traction with this issue.

Henry Mencken once said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." The same is true of winning an election. By assuming the American public would be too intelligent to fall for such blatant lies and distortions you only gave the lies and distortions more time to seep into the American mindset. Want to know where you lost the Undecideds and potential swing voters? My guess is right after the first Swift Boats ads started appearing and there was no answer to them from the Democratic Party. Even if they were lies, the majority of the American public does not see a Presidential race as an intellectual debate scored on factual points. They’re looking at image and perceptions. They’re looking for someone who can respond to an attack – any kind of attack, whether it’s a false charge from the opposition party or if it’s terrorists hitting NYC.

The path the Democratic leadership choose to follow allowed the Republicans to take control of what issues were being presented to the American public and manipulate the media to their ends. The American people responded because in times of crisis many people blindly follow whoever appears to be the strongest person.

It’s not the economy, it’s all about the strength, stupid.


* Listen to the Pundants: I understand that you can’t please everyone. I also understand that there’s a lot of free advice out there and gleaning the good from the bad can be difficult. However, many of them seemed to have a good grasp of the issues, what was working and what wasn’t working. How about doing a little 20/20 hindsight, tracking what they said and see who had the most things right and paying a bit more attention to them four years from now?


* Hire me: I’m interested in participating, have plenty of good ideas, am not afraid to share my opinions and am willing to relocate.

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