NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

Pith in the Wind talks politics. This weekend is a big deal, campers. I honestly think this needs to be discussed. It’s a critical look at what many people are saying behind the scenes. I think there is going to be a Thrilla in Manila in Nashville this weekend. Yes I made a Talking Heads reference in the title from my youth which proves I’m older than dirt.

Worried Democrats across the state are watching what happens this weekend in Nashville, where the party’s state House caucus will elect a new leader. Many are saying the caucus ought to think twice before choosing Gary Odom. After all, didn’t he help lead Democrats to their present dismal state of irrelevancy? So how should he know what to do now?

In making excuses for their loss of the legislature, Democrats are right to point to the top of the ticket. Many voters obviously cast ballots against Barack Obama because he’s black. Racism is the only way to explain how John Kerry did so much better than Obama in many places in Tennessee four years ago. McCain’s larger margins clearly made the difference in enough legislative races to put Republicans over the top. There’s no disputing any of that.

The problem with this analysis, true as it may be, is this: In placing the blame on factors out of their control, Democrats are getting no closer to finding a way back to respectability. For that, they ought to follow the wise Aunt B’s advice:

Democrats, look in the mirror! Go to the library, pull up the last five years of the Tennessean and read about yourselves—People showing up on the capitol drunk, canoodling with lobbyists, not showing up at all, getting arrested by the Feds, getting arrested by the Locals, building million-dollar additions to their taxpayer funded homes while the price of milk doubles and the economy in the state tanks, ousting the one Democrat who was willing not just to say “enough” but to vote “enough,” and so on and so on and so on.