BOOK REVIEW
The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics
From 1931 to 2002, the Democratic Party had control of at least one of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House for all but two years and four months. From 2003 to 2006, the Democrats lost all three for four years. The story of how they reacted to this trauma is told with insight, fluidity, and a touch of meanness by New York Times Magazine reporter Matt Bai in The Argument. Bai's main point is summarized in his book's title. He states that Democrats need to make a positive argument for why they would be good in office, rather than merely relying on the negative argument that the Republicans would be (and have been) bad. Bai shows how and why the Democrats have not been able to cohere around a clear and simply stated set of principles that would move Americans to vote for Democrats rather than just against Republicans. Chapter by chapter, Bai profiles various groups of Democratic activists and donors, each of which is missing Bai's basic point in its own way. Democratic Party insiders focus on making tactical adjustments for the next election. Progressive bloggers and MoveOn activists wallow in anti-Republican rage. Wealthy funders blind themselves with hubris. None provide a positive program for voters to support. The only people who seem to impress Bai are Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union. In both men, Bai sees the long-term vision and the willingness to break the status quo that Bai believes the Democratic Party will need to become the majority party again. But even they have not come up with that new argument.
Review posted: 20 January 2008
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