Sunday, June 10, 2007

Is Schumer’s Vision for the Democrats at Odds With the Soros-Kos Vision?







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In his recent book, Positively American, New York’s Senior Senator, Charles Schumer introduces the guiding light of his political vision – the Bailey’s (Eileen and Joe) of Massapequa, Long Island.

The Bailey’s are Schumer’s composite of the great American middle class – the people he grew up with in Brooklyn.

Schumer describes the Baileys, in part, like this, “They are bothered by the corporate excesses they read about in the paper. But they are bothered even more when they read about someone burning the American flag. They feel there is a place in America for large, successful corporations and realize they’re needed – even if it’s an unfortunate fact of life that some CEOs will always go too far. But they are infuriated by flag burners. That hits their emotional chord. The Bailey’s are angered by people who don’t appreciate America and who exploit America’s very freedoms to spit in its face – and theirs. They are skeptical of anyone who defends such people.”

Who goes on, “They believe everyone deserves a fair chance and are sympathetic to those who are less fortunate then they are...but they are not driven by communal goals over self-interest. To them there is nothing wrong with seeking what’s good for yourself and your family. To them, it’s part of the American credo. They believe in charity, but they also see nothing wrong with helping yourself do better.” He goes on, “They are proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished and they don’t need government to treat them like basket cases. Most of the time, it seems to them that government’s focused on someone else – the very poor, or the very rich. So most of the time, they tune government out.”

Schumer’s vision isn’t about converting the American middle class to Liberalism, in fact Schumer admits, “Democrats were embarrassingly liberal, pathetically liberal, shamefully liberal and liberal for too long,” no, his vision is about “listening to them.”

He refuses to lecture or hector them about their putting personal-interest over “communal values.” He even understands intrinsically the Democrats failure connecting with Americans over national security – when a Senate colleague asked him, “Why don’t they trust us on foreign policy?”

“Us?” I asked.


“Democrats.”

“They?”

“The press, the people.”

“I paused and considered..."I’m not sure they should,” I said.

It seems as though Schumer clearly sees the extreme Left (the "Kos kids" and the Soros-axis) as bigger impediments to a Democratic, then the Republicans are.

Makes sense, given the 2006 Schumer-Emmanuel Plan that had the Democrats recruiting hard-core Conservatives, including former Reagan official Jim Webb, and Evangelical Christian Heath Schuler, among others to run out West and down South.
2006 was a very promising year for the Democrats primarily because they embraced Schumer’s pro-middle class, anti-far Left “flag burners,” agenda.

Will it continue?

Can the Democrats move forward with an agenda that relegates the “Kos kids” to the back burner?

Without it, Schumer warns that the Democrats risking falling back what they seemed to b e after their 2004 defeat – a Party of permanent minority status.

2 comments:

Mick Brady said...

I'm shocked. Viewing New York Senators from a distance, my sense had been that Schumer was and still is a hard core leftie. Are you telling me that I am wrong about him? Say it ain't so, Joe.

JMK said...

Well, that's at least the appearance his book gives - he makes the middle class the cornerstone of what he sees as a successful Democratic agenda.

And he did say that, "Democrats were embarrassingly liberal, pathetically liberal, shamefully liberal and liberal for too long.”

He and Rahm Emmanuel recruited Conservative Dems to run down South and out West...including the likes of Jon Tester in MT and Jim Webb in VA, along with a slew of Conservative Congressional Dems

Thanks to that strategy over 20% of the Dems now serving in Congress are Conservatives.

I don't like schumer's voting record and that highlights the sad fact that even when a Liberal can see that salvation lies in "listening and responding to" the middle class, they still hold to some hopelessly Liberal views - like supporting race/gender preferences, higher across the board tax rates, etc.

I deon't like a lot of his views, nor his voting record, but I do like the strategy of recruiting more Conservative Democrats.

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