Print out and laminate, [annotated and extended for you convenience]:
- [The Democrats in Congress] need to remember that they’re still in charge. Democrats have the White House and large majorities in both houses of Congress. They get to set the agenda.
- Democrats have to understand is that they already passed health care; they own the legislation. [As such, they will be campaigning on this issue whether it is signed by Obama or not. No matter what happens between now and the mid-terms. Better to have distinct policy issues to point to, as opposed to a miserable failure to act that they have to paper over.]
- If Democrats get the urge to reach out to their colleagues across the aisle, they need to remind themselves that Republicans have no incentive – or desire – to do anything other than obstruct any and all legislation the Democrats might seek to pass. [Furthermore, they need to tee up some popular, populist-leaning policies that they know the GOP will obstruct. And then crucify them.]
- Republicans will cry “big government!” at any proposal that doesn’t involve tax cuts for the purchase of monocles and yachting accessories, but Democrats should ignore them. [Furthermore, Democrats should repeatedly excoriate the GOP for their views. When asked to apologize, raise the temperature of the rhetoric. When asked to apologize for that, raise it again.]
- If [Democrats] want to avoid catastrophe, they’ll have to go against all their instincts and show the American people that they have some spine. The last thing they want to be saying to the public is, “Re-elect us, even though we are obviously incapable of getting anything done.”
Read the whole thing.
Lemkin 