Inherit the Mess: The Democrats’ Twilight in America
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The Democrats’ campaign slogans “We inherited this mess” and “It could be worse” do not inspire confidence nor make the case to elect them and could wind up defeating them
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With the weakest economic recovery since the Great Depression, Democrats have adopted a message that they, and President Obama specifically, inherited a mess. And to reinforce such thought, they state that without Democrats in power the past 4 years, it could have been worse. This theme has been amplified this week at the Democratic National Convention.
It is indisputable that the financial meltdown of 2007-2009 was one of the worst in many decades and Mr. Obama clearly did inherit a lousy economy. Regardless of what anyone says, there is plenty of blame to spread to both parties. But for those of us who can recall Candidate Obama’s message of “hope and change” in 2008, the failure to allow the economy to recover and the rationalization that he shouldn’t have been expected to preside over a healthier economic rebound is a marked contradiction from what he promised 4 years ago.
Democrats claim that they inherited a mess and thus have effectively been street-cleaners after a horse parade
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More importantly, such is not a posture taken by prior successful presidents who did not inherit optimal situations.
Addressing just a few prior “presidential fixers”:
- President Reagan clearly did not inherit a good situation as his predecessor, Jimmy Carter, along with a Democratic Congress, left the economy in tatters (high inflation, high unemployment, low growth [sound familiar?]). Yet he miraculously turned things around instead of whining and blaming the prior administration. Conversely, Mr. Carter also inherited a lousy economy from the Nixon/Ford administrations and proceeded to make things even worse, resulting in his one-term status.
- FDR inherited the Great Depression and while he had policy mistakes, no one can fault him for not trying and succeeding to some degree in turning a bad situation around.
- President Lincoln, if history teachers and books can be trusted, did not throw up his hands and claim that he inherited an intractable mess which could not be solved. He met the challenges of his day head on, with rather positive results.
- George Washington was handed a nascent republic with many problems. Officially inaugurating what would become a great American tradition, he rose to the occasion and saw his two terms through that ended with a better situation than what he started with.
And there’s many less celebrated examples of other presidents also “earning their pay” by tackling the tough jobs that inherently come with the position.
The Democratic position of the backward-looking view of “it could be worse” is not what this historically can-do country is all about. America’s attitude and approach is more aligned with the Reaganesque forward-looking philosophy of “things should always be better,” as they progressively were under President Reagan’s reign. To contrast with Mr. Obama’s “gut-it-out America” message, 28 years ago Mr. Reagan’s re-election theme was “morning in America,” as Mr. Reagan sailed to a landslide victory.
An irony that could result from Democrats’ incessant reminders of the “mess” they inherited will be to create an even crankier electorate that was unhappy to begin with. When voters are disenchanted, the incumbents, in this case President Obama and Democrats, are the big losers of such a sour mood.
Democrats should be careful about the defeatism they now sow as such could result in reaping the bitter fruits of electoral loss in November.
-I.M. Windee
