It's not just what the Democrats don't say, it's what they don't do

On this blog, as in many other places, the Democrats have been rightly accused of failing to make a persuasive case -- for not having a clear, coherent and consistent message. There's much truth in this, but it's not the whole story. A large part of their problem is their failure to do. Frank Rich's op ed in today's Times makes the case that the administration has failed to prosecute the crooks and thugs who run our financial system. That's only one of many such failures. The administration has also failed to prosecute the crooks and thugs who ran our government (into the ground) for the past eight years. And, Democrats, in general, have repeatedly failed to force a confrontation with Republicans. The Dems could easily have voted to repeal the Bush tax cuts (and keep the cuts for the under $250,000 crowd), forcing the Republicans to kill it through a filibuster, but they ran away from it when the Republicans said, "Boo." Now, they can't even complain that the Republicans blocked it. The truthful retort on the part of Republicans is, "We didn't block it. It never came up because the Democrats failed to bring it up." Same for "Don't ask, don't tell."

Back to Frank Rich's piece, I'm afraid the administration in particular and Democrats in general are simply afraid of a fight. And, if you don't fight, there's no way you can win.