Step Away From the Ledge
2014-11-05 - by
North Carolina Democrats should push the pause, not panic, button.
It was, as George Bush famously said after the 2006 midterm, “a thumpin’.” It hurts like hell, especially when the other team spikes the ball and strikes a pose in the end zone. The temptation is to form up the circular firing squad and start shooting each other.
Instead, as Terry Sanford used to say, let’s have a council of war and figure out how to take the next hill.
Take it from a scarred old veteran: The seeds of victory often are sown in defeat. Democrats saw their boats swamped in 1984, 1994 and 2004. (What is it about years ending in 4?) Each time, two years later, a rising tide lifted all their boats to big victories.
Politics goes in waves these days, and the waves go national. As did this one. From the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast, it was a Republican tsunami. It was a vote of dissatisfaction and discontent with President Obama and the party that was seen as the Ins.
The miracle is that Kay Hagan came within less than 1.7 percent, while other Democrats were losing by 10 and 20 points or losing blue states like Maryland and Massachusetts. Legislative candidates like my man Tom Bradshaw came within less than 1 percent of surviving gerrymandering, incumbent money, tough voter laws and the national tide. State House candidates overcame those odds in Dare, Wake and Buncombe counties. Democratic judges, who didn’t have the burden of “Democrat” by their names on the ballot, won statewide. Four Democrats were elected county commissioners in Wake; all seven board seats are now held by Democrats.
In the Capitols in Raleigh and Washington, Republicans own it now. The euphoria of victory invites overreach, and there will be few Democrats to blame in 2016. Perhaps by then the public will be so enamored with the performance of state and national government, on the economy and education, that Republicans will win another big victory.
Or the tide may turn with a vengeance.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats
Step Away From the Ledge
2014-11-05/
North Carolina Democrats should push the pause, not panic, button.
It was, as George Bush famously said after the 2006 midterm, “a thumpin’.” It hurts like hell, especially when the other team spikes the ball and strikes a pose in the end zone. The temptation is to form up the circular firing squad and start shooting each other.
Instead, as Terry Sanford used to say, let’s have a council of war and figure out how to take the next hill.
Take it from a scarred old veteran: The seeds of victory often are sown in defeat. Democrats saw their boats swamped in 1984, 1994 and 2004. (What is it about years ending in 4?) Each time, two years later, a rising tide lifted all their boats to big victories.
Politics goes in waves these days, and the waves go national. As did this one. From the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast, it was a Republican tsunami. It was a vote of dissatisfaction and discontent with President Obama and the party that was seen as the Ins.
The miracle is that Kay Hagan came within less than 1.7 percent, while other Democrats were losing by 10 and 20 points or losing blue states like Maryland and Massachusetts. Legislative candidates like my man Tom Bradshaw came within less than 1 percent of surviving gerrymandering, incumbent money, tough voter laws and the national tide. State House candidates overcame those odds in Dare, Wake and Buncombe counties. Democratic judges, who didn’t have the burden of “Democrat” by their names on the ballot, won statewide. Four Democrats were elected county commissioners in Wake; all seven board seats are now held by Democrats.
In the Capitols in Raleigh and Washington, Republicans own it now. The euphoria of victory invites overreach, and there will be few Democrats to blame in 2016. Perhaps by then the public will be so enamored with the performance of state and national government, on the economy and education, that Republicans will win another big victory.
Or the tide may turn with a vengeance.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats