In the mid-term elections, the GOP’s not-so-secret weapon was fear. Fear of Ebola, fear of ISIS, and fear of immigrants all played a significant role in shaping the pre-election political climate, and Democrats for the most part, responded by hunkering down into a defensive crouch.
Once again, as in 2010, they largely abandoned any pro-active agenda setting of their own, any talk of breaking new ground, exploring new possibilities—even despite the greater-than-hoped-for success of Obamacare—and they certainly lacked the patience, maturity and self-confidence to stand back and criticize the childish, self-defeating fearfulness at the heart of the GOP’s campaign strategy. Republicans had one thing going for them—fear. Democrats had two potential strengths they turned their backs on—innovation and maturity. By failing to capitalize on those potential strengths, Democrats spent almost the entire campaign hunkered down, just waiting for the fear-based attack to come.
To put it mildly, it was not a strategic position of enormous strength, much less one of flexibility. Things changed rapidly during the campaign, and even more dramatically afterwards, as all three of those fears have faded rapidly into the background by now. Yet, the Democrats’ defensive crouch left them unable to take advantage of any changing situations. Democrats even proved entirely unable to take advantage of the unforeseen extent of Obamacare’s success, which deprived the GOP of their key pre-planned bogeyman for the campaign. On top of everything, fear of being identified with Obama was a widespread concern which hobbled many campaigns and even crippled some—a dynamic which looks increasingly ridiculous in hindsight, as Obama’s been particularly successful in taking major actions after the Democrats’ miserable mid-term showing.
It didn’t have to be that way.
More than 80 years ago, in his first inaugural address, FDR addressed a frightened and uncertain nation, and told them, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Not only has today’s Democratic Party lost its way in terms of building on its New Deal economic heritage—which helped create the largest middle class in human history—it’s just as lost in terms of the over-riding can-do sense of purpose which made Roosevelt’s success possible. What’s more, it’s lost the momentum, not so much in generating new ideas, as in pushing the out into the world, so that they shape our shared perceptions of what’s real, what’s possible, and what’s desirable as well.
Fox News has nothing but fear: Here’s how we fight back against lies — and win - Salon.com
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