I received an e-mail earlier tonight with a subject line reading, "Silver Lining". I knew what the message would contain before I opened it. It was going to be about how bad it was that Gov. Gray Davis was recalled, but how good it was that there is palpable anger from voters against government insiders, and the reason that this is good is because it spells doom for the Bushies in 2004. I had heard Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee's chairman say this last night on television, and it seemed to me that it was going to be the talking point of the day for Democrats across the country.
The e-mail I received was from a progressive action group called Moveon.org. I am proud to be a member of the group, and think they do a lot of great work for progressives in this country. However, I do not think that anger should ever be called a "silver lining". They say, "This anger can and should be properly directed toward the Bush administration and congressional leadership. This will be our mission in the coming year." It seems all well and good to try and find something positive in a bad situation, but this seems like a stretch, and a dangerous stretch at that.
Even, Howard Dean's campaign were spouting these talking points. Dean released a statement that, "Come next November, the anger might be directed at a different incumbent- in the White House." Well, that seems awfully presumptuous. Sure, people are mad today, and for the moment there is much anger towards Bush, maybe not as much anger as Californians had towards Davis, but everyone needs to have a little perspective. The election is still over a year away. It is absurd for us to talk like we are going to defeat Bush in 2004 because people are mad at him in 2003. It is a good thing that his approval numbers are going down because of this anger right now, at least it removes some of the media teflon he has had since 9/11, but what happens if the anger starts to clear and all that's left is two guys standing at a debate? Someone needs to look like he knows what he's doing, and that would entail that he at least appear composed.
The recall election was a seven-week farce. You might be able to win a seven-week campaign on anger, but a Presidential campaign is a lot longer, and therefore should be more substantive.
So, I hope that the candidate that wins the Democratic primary has more than some anger towards Bush to work from. Because if they don't we could be looking at another four years of Bush, which is a long time to live without a silver lining.
For the moment the only silver lining that comes from the results of the recall election is that I don't live in California.