Rural Democrats rebel against Obama!
Politico -- which has emerged as one of the top political journals in the country - has actually been taking an interest in rural issues of late: a very cool development for those of us who think small towns remain a compelling piece of the national picture.
This morning, they report on growing restlessness among rural Democrats with a wide array of Obama Administration policies.
Angered by White House decisions on everything from greenhouse gases to car dealerships, congressional Democrats from rural districts are threatening to revolt against parts of President Barack Obama’s ambitious first-year agenda.
“They don’t get rural America,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat who represents California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley. “They form their views of the world in large cities.”
The reality is very simple: As Democrats compete in more "marginal" districts -- NY's 20th and 23rd, for example -- they elect more rural and more conservative politicians.
That brings a real cultural tension into the Democratic Party, where leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are definitively urban players.
(The outlier here is Senator and majority leader Harry Reid, from rural Searchlight, Nevada.)
So far - despite Politico's take - Dems have been remarkably successful at taking and holding these red-tinted rural districts.
Also, dissent within their ranks pales compared with the ideological divides within the GOP.
Still, 2010 will test whether Democrats have reached their logical horizon, or whether there's more fertile ground out there.
On the other side of this equation, there's very little evidence to date that Republicans are finding ways to reintroduce themselves to the far more populous urban and urban communities where Dems dominate.Remember: With each Census and each redistribution of House seats that follows, there will be fewer rural House seats and more suburban and urban House seats.
So this "small town problem" that Democrats wrestle with gets smaller demographically each year...
posted by Brian Mann @ 6/17/2009 06:49:00 AM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
That will be a short-lived rebellion. Population lends to power and political muscle. The rural areas will not receive attention ahead of urban areas.
We see that in NNY. You can see it right in St. Lawrence County. How many of the projects forwarded by the Democratic leadership in the county legislature are getting stimulus funding?
Rebellion isn't the way that we rurals will help those in power "get it". We acknowledge that we are the poor, ugly step-cousins. Rural=minority. Powerless. Like the abused child, rurals cannot use power and strength - rebellion - to get them to listen, understand, speak for us, and act in our interest.
Which leaves the power of the pen and speech to help us help them "get it".
I'm afraid even those of us who have some passion, (& naive hope?), for our rural plight, are only preaching to the choir here within the confines of NCPR, when we might have a greater impact blogging on Politico, Huffington Post, Twitter, etc.
It's the same old same old. Don't think rural. Think old people.
Have you folks read Brian's book, "Welcome to the Homeland"? If matters such as these interest you, I think you would find it illuminating. Rural doe NOT equal powerless.
When power bills get too high and farmers will no longer be able to produce and cities have black outs because of too high prices and clean coal electricity should have been expanded......we will wonder why the Dem and Rep are allowing the breaking of our country! We are not well informed and the media isn't telling us! Happy 4th! God Bless America! Hank
Post a Comment
<< Home