Plunderbund vs Lincoln Logs yet what caught my interest

In between the latest "blog interaction" between Lincoln Logs and Plunderbund I found this Columbus Dispatch article that I thought was interesting.

First though where I stand on Bob Shamansky, not only do I think very highly of some of his campaign staff but I wish NWO had Bob. If you wanted to center the debate on Bob's thoughts about the war in Iraq, I'd suggest this rather than focusing on one small comment in the Dispatch article.

Now, back to the Dispatch article...I recommend reading it in full but this immediately caught my eye:

"People have concluded that the country is going in the wrong direction, and they’re open to listening to what the alternative to that is, but if we fail to state a clear alternative, we’ll be making a mistake," said John D. Podesta, Clinton’s former White House chief of staff and president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group.

He and other Democrats frequently refer to an agenda for "the common good," a phrase designed, in part, to condemn by implication Republican policies that Democrats say favor the privileged few. But beyond unified support for a higher minimum wage, Democrats have yet to rally around a concrete set of policies to serve the common good.

Jim Underwood, a Columbus-based research consultant who has worked for both parties, said the re-elections of Democratic Gov. Richard F. Celeste in 1986 and President Clinton in 1996 after ethically tarred first terms show that scandals don’t always move voters.

"More important," he said, "is the old vision thing. What are you going to do to help secure the future for me and my family? That’s where this election turns. The formula is that if you attack someone, then you have to tell people what your solution is. Right now, the Democrats seem at a loss for solutions."

This is from Democrats...and that is one of the primary problems. It is to me one of the very reasons that President Bush was re-elected, you have to be able to do more than just basically say "those guys suck". People want to believe even while realizing that almost all campaigns contain some hype that the person they are going to vote for has plans. A vision, and a vision that they believe is possible.

I'm not in Central Ohio, so I am not as informed on the Tiberi V Shamansky race but I do believe this is more than just about Bob. I believe he has articulated his position on Iraq better than others have, yet one point I think this article doesn't cover is Republicans can't rest on their "I support the President" meme forever. Eventually even without a clear plan on Iraq, Americans will turn in frustration elsewhere if there is no end in sight. If the Democrats can agree and better promote what their plans are it could happen sooner than later.

In closing, I'd ask since I am allergic to chocolate that if a food is going to be chosen to represent my blogging, I'd prefer it be a twinkie. Especially those new strawberry filled twinkies...now those are awesome.

:-)