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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE "PARTY OF THE AVERAGE JOE"?
By Tim Siggia
November 08, 2004
On Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004, President Bush and the Republican Party won a decisive and well-earned victory at the polls, to the satisfaction and reassurance of their supporters, confounding the pundits, pollsters and liberal hatemongers who were by then standing by to uncork the champagne bottles (imported from France, of course) to celebrate trouncing they were so certain Bush was to get on November 2. With four more years of the White House in Bush's capable hands, plus clear Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, the agenda has been laid out as Mr. Bush now prepares, in his words, to spend his political capital.
As Republicans rejoice, Democrats are collectively scratching their heads and asking themselves and each other, "What happened?" In 2000 they were able to claim, however bogusly, that Bush had stolen the election, and that he was a president selected by the Supreme Court rather than elected by the people. But this time Bush won by all counts; by both popular and electoral votes, plus he won by a majority in what was at least technically a three-way race -- something his predecessor in the White House had never done.
John Kerry, for his part, deserves at least a bit of credit here. Rather than use any available excuse to prolong the race, as Al Gore did in 2000, Sen. Kerry ended his campaign with grace and class, conceding the election to Bush and congratulating him on his win. More than a few of his supporters could take a lesson from this, particularly the supposedly impartial Katie Couric, who dressed in black on Nov. 3 and made it a point to report how Kerry's defeat was being bemoaned in Europe, and Bush-hating columnist Molly Ivins, who continues to spew her liberal venom in newspapers throughout the country.
But the big question for Democrats now is, "Why?" After all, the Democrats are supposed to be the Party of the Average Joe, and this year it seems that Average Joe has abandoned them. It's not the first time Democrats have been faced with this question, of course. The failed campaigns of George McGovern in 1972, Jimmy Carter in 1980, Walter Mondale in 1984 and Michael Dukakis in 1988 all prompted the same question among Democrats. To Republicans and others, the answer was obvious. Democrats, however, still continue to labor under a delusion: that they are the Party of the Average Joe -- and the answer to their question is not the one they want to hear.
The truth is that the party that was once perceived by many, if not by all, as the party of hot dogs and beer has become the party of quiche and Perrier. As the post-Vietnam-era Democratic party moved incrementally to the left, it also began systematically losing touch with Average Joe. Today's Democrats, in fact, tend to look upon Average Joe with contempt rather than reverence. They consider him a boob and a numbskull, who cannot figure out for himself what's good for him, and therefore needs the guidance and direction of liberal thinkers to put him on the right path. That he continuously proves himself otherwise, to the point of rejecting the counsel of the Democratic gods-on-high, is a matter of consternation to Democrats, who still, simplistically enough, believe themselves his representatives.
The party that supposedly once stood in opposition to the monied interests is now the party of Michael Moore, George Soros, Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, Dave Matthews and Barbra Streisand -- multimillionaires all, except for Soros, who is a billionaire -- of Dan Rather and Pinch Sulzberger, and more than a score of blue-chip corporations that contributed generously to the Kerry campaign. With such a prestigious and high-profile following, who needs Average Joe?
To be sure, a number of Average Joes did vote for Kerry -- less because he was their personal choice than because they had interalized the traditional mantra of the Democrats that they were his party. They voted for Kerry because they believed as wage earners they were supposed to, because their union bosses told them to, or simply because they hated Bush. But many, many more voted for their commander-in-chief. A county-by-county map of the United States in red and blue tells the whole story.
So, in the end, John Kerry, despite all his initial advantages, could not win the election. The news media couldn't spin it for him, George Soros couldn't buy it for him, his own party hacks couldn't steal it for him, and Michael Moore, Al Franken & Company couldn't hatemonger it for him -- and they all tried their hardest to do those things. But by a majority, the people of the United States rejected the message of the Far Left, which is the message of today's Democratic Party. It is not the message of Average Joe, and it never was.
And the Democrats are still asking why.
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