Dems in depression

Howard Fineman:

With George W. Bush’s presidency mired in the muck of hurricanes and doubts about the war, you’d think Democrats would be bursting with energy, eagerly expecting to regain power. But, in a roomful of well-connected Democrats the other night, I was struck by how gloomy they were. They can’t stand Bush, but didn’t have much faith in their own party’s prospects.

Why? Well, some of the reasons they articulated are short-term and tactical; some are purely personal; others more philosophical; and I have a few myself:

Supreme divisions
The president’s nomination of John Roberts was a ten strike, knocking apart whatever united front the Dems might have been able to muster on judicial issues. However genial and cerebral he may be, Roberts also is a board-certified conservative, blessed by the James Dobsons of the world.

...

Lack of star power
These things go in cycles, I guess, and it’s hard to be glamorous when you are in the minority in both houses of Congress. That said, it’s incontestably true that the Democrats simply aren’t blessed with much charisma in the leadership ranks—unless you consider Angelina Jolie a Democrat.

...

Hillary love and fear
The purported inevitability of Hillary Rodham Clinton excites some Democrats, but deeply depresses some others, both inside and outside the Beltway.

...

This is one reason I am not buying the GOP in trouble theme being push by Democrats in the media who act like the bogus DeLay indictment is the coming of Watergate. Nor do I think the Republicans are in trouble on ideological grounds. I don't think the reponse to Katrina was as bad as the media portrayed it nor will their bad reporting have a lasting effect. Certainly the administration's response was not as bad as the reporting of events in Louisiana. When of the things I learned from the Democrats in Vietnam. When Democrats really screw up they start trying to avoid responsibility by blaming others. That is what was happening in Louisiana when a Democrat mayor and a Democrat governor procrastinated and made bad decisions and FEMA became the scape goat for their bad decisions.

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