Mosque Debate Shows Democrats' Inability to Stay on Message

During the health care debate I was livid over the Democratic Party's inability to form a coherent, usable message to galvanize the electorate and pass progressive health care legislation. My post yesterday on Harry Reid's kowtowing to anti-property rights folks further shows Democrats' inability to be unified on any issue. If there were an issue that Democrats could be 100% together on, this would, and should, be it.

But from the word "go" the Democrats have resembled the Mets front office rather than a functioning body politic. Hoping to allow the Republicans to talk about Cordoba House until they got bored (akin to allowing a child to throw a temper tantrum in the hopes that he/she will simply tire him/herself out) and sidestep the mosque as a campaign issue, the Democrats seemed to be caught off guard by Obama's statement alluding to a "mosque in Lower Manhattan."

To begin with, any Democrat who spoke in support of the right of the Cordoba House to be built on private property in New York was left to be attacked by anyone and everyone with no backup. Obama was no different. Now the Senate majority leader comes out against the mosque. This same fractured debacle is what led to a watered-down health care reform bill and a watered-down financial reform bill. You would think that with a majority in both the House and the Senate Democrats would be able to do something worthwhile. As Nate pointed out recently, however, all someone needs to do is threaten a filibuster and legislation is shelved without a second thought.

Thus it is with this mosque issue (which, if you remove emotions and knee-jerk reactionism, is really a non-issue.) Nancy Pelosi is now calling for an inquiry into the funding of the mosque opposition. That sounds productive. Let's focus on real issues, like the health of 9/11 victims. To be honest, the only people with the ability to prevent the Cordoba House's building at Park51 are the owners of the Cordoba House. The LPC said Burlington Coat Factory is not an historic site and the requisite city committees have approved it. Talking about Nazis and Saudi Arabia is really beside the point at this stage in the game. But don't tell that to politicians with agendas during an election year.

Photo - A broken ass (Kane Photoshop)