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A Question Of Nerve
By The one thing the Cheneyites and Rovians have is nerve. They assert everything with utter certainty and confidence even though their record is appalling. Conservatives and liberals of doubt don't think or act that way. We are aware that we can be wrong; we try and analyze our own mistakes; we try to give a fair hearing to the other side.
This can lead to an assumption that we are wusses. Or weak. But of course the opposite is true. It is the strong who can entertain doubt and the weak who cannot. Cheney is not a strong man; he is a bully hiding his own rank moral and political and national security failure.
The whole point of the Obama candidacy - why he matters - is that he is a liberal of doubt. But he also showed in the campaign that this was a strength. And when he needed to, he revealed a ruthlessness and radicalism and won.
And that is why this moment is so vital.
He must not just rally the House Dems, he must rally the country. He must bring us back in. And we must back him up. This is not just about a centrist comprehensive health reform bill. It is about defeating an entire brand of cowardly, cynical, spin cycle bullshit that has brought this country down and promoting an adult and reasonable discourse that grapples with our problems.
That's what we elected him for. If he caves now, if he does not mount a huge effort to retain this bill, he will have surrendered on that critical ground. He will have lost his nerve. And if we cave now, all that work we did, all that energy, all that hope, will be squandered as the old politics gets its hands on our collective throats again.
I refuse to believe he has given up; and I refuse to believe we will. This moment is too important as a fulcrum on which this country's future hangs for him or us to give up now. The polls show a divided country. At this point in the adminstrations of my idols, Reagan and Thatcher, the polls were overwhelmingly against them. They faced them down and won.
Mr President, fight. Show you're a fighter. And start to enjoy it.
