George,

The Democratic party now controls the White House and the Congress yet the right-wing Republicans still control the agenda. The Republicans brought on a near depression and weakened our position in the Middle East and Afghanistan, yet they act as if they have done nothing wrong.

They were soundly defeated in 2008, but rather than slinking away they remain in front row seats. How can this happen?

The answer is that they have audacity, are steadfast to their positions, have common talking points that they all share, know how to frame issues in simple sound bites, are always on the attack and play hard ball.

Democrats, on the other hand, play softball and are far too kind, timid and intellectual. They cannot reduce complex issues into appealing and understandable sound bites, they are fearful of “The Right,” and refuse to use their majority in the Senate to full advantage because they are afraid of filibusters. (See my New York Times op-ed piece on filibusters.

In addition, Obama has approaches to the political world that leave him vulnerable. He thinks that pointing out the failures of the Bush administration is playing the "blame game" and thus he fails to educate the public about the weaknesses of Republican practices and doctrine while, at the same time, establishing reasons for his reform policies.

He thinks that he can reason with and even win over Republican leaders in Congress despite the fact that they have tightly closed ideological minds and are concentrating on defeating him in 2012. His policy proposals need to be presented in a more simplified, clear-cut manner and the President must fight for them when challenged in the Senate. He pays far too much attention to cable news chatter and right wing talk show hosts. And, overall, he does not like to go on the offense.

Consequently, he is often on the defensive.

Let me use the latest brouhaha about releasing information about torture during the Bush administration and closing Guantanamo as an example.

Obama was on the high ground on these issues but lost control of the agenda thus giving the Republicans the upper hand – at least until his fine defensive play today in his speech about constitutional principles.

Recall that recent attention to these issues began with the commendable release of certain Justice Department memos justifying torture. In particular there was Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee’s memos in 2002 that established the legal basis for allowing torture. This was a smoking gun that the Democrats – indeed all believers in the Constitution and the Rule of Law – should have pounced upon. Bybee’s grotesque twisting of reason and legal precedent to come to his conclusions are clear examples of Orwellian Doublethink. He and his dangerous conclusions should have been the focus of attention ever since the memos were released. Efforts should have been made to see that such malfeasance, especially on the part of a Justice Department official, never happened again. The way to do this would have been to call Bybee to account. His memos may not have been criminal or illegal, but his career should be over. He certainly should no longer be a Federal judge. Future Justice Department attorneys should be made aware the such prostitution of reason is unacceptable and will eventually be career-ending. And as in all political endeavors where you are trying to get public attention, putting a face on an issue by pointing to a particular individual is always helpful.

Yet now, thanks to the right wing Republican propaganda machine and the political ineptitude of President Obama and other Democratic leaders, it is Nancy Pelosi, not Jay Bybee, who is on the defensive. This is an absurd turn of events. How did this happen?

The first mistake was for Obama not to make an example of Bybee but instead to say that we are going to let bygones be bygones and look to the future. This soft, middling, approach never works. Besides, there was a major principle at stake here that constitutional law professor Obama should have been concerned about. For the stake of the future he should have done something so that this sort of thing would never occur again. The Bybee memos were a clear violation of Rule of Law. The Rule of Law is an enormously important principle in a democracy because it says that no individual official should have the power to invent law as they go along. By going after Bybee, Obama would have been on the high ground, been on the offensive and reminded the public once again that there was much wrongdoing in the Republican Bush administration. That would have been a clear position, a principled decision and one that would have put the Democrats on the offensive.

Instead, the Republicans went on the offensive. They went after Nancy Pelosi (as if she were in charge of the government at the time) and forced her to give a press conference. At that press conference she used a poor choice of words about the CIA. (Of course, WE know the CIA as the “slam dunk” CIA of George Tenet, but the public wants to think that their “protector” – the CIA – is honest and capable.) Democrats were now on the defensive. The Republicans then got the Senate to pull the rug out from under President Obama’s effort to close Guantanamo.

Finally, Obama gives a magnificent speech today explaining his positions on torture and Guantanamo, but it was a desperation defensive play.

David RePass (Electronic mail, May 21, 2009)