What the election is all about

I was listening to the radio this morning and I heard the hosts talking about what it means if Democrats take control of the legislature. They pointed out several ideas that the Democrats have proposed including eliminating the bush tax cuts and retreating in Iraq. The purpose was to scare conservative listeners into voting this election.

If elected, the Democrats will certainly try to advance their left wing agenda after being out of power for so long but this doesn't matter much to the electorate. Even though their agenda is way out of the mainstream, this election is not about issues or agendas. If you listen to the Democrats on the campaign trail, they are not promoting a national agenda like the Republican's Contract with America. Instead they are tapping into the general dissatisfaction of the electorate and urging change. What is driving this dissatisfaction? Some might argue that corruption is the key issue this year but I think most people realize that Republicans and Democrats are equally corrupt. Instead this election is all about competence and a lack of public confidence in our leaders.

For many years, Republicans have been seen as the more effective managers of government resources. The public may not have always agreed with them but at least they trusted them to get the job done. That image has been tarnished fairly or unfairly by several factors including Iraq and Katrina. Most of us see Iraq as a mess that has no end in sight. That's the reality of war but people want to know that we have a realistic plan to win. After all the blood shed "stay the course" rings hollow and serves only as a substitute for a legitimate plan. I realize that the Democrats don't have a plan either but that isn't the point. The public doesn't expect them to have one. They expect Republicans with their traditional foreign policy experience to have one and they don't.

But more than Iraq, the memory of Katrina is what really hurts Republicans. The federal response was totally ineffective and we are still paying the price for that. When disaster strikes, people want comfort and reassurance that somebody is in control and in charge. They need someone or something to believe in. Instead what they got were stories of chaos and violence. This event more than any other cut to the core of Republican dissatisfaction because it demonstrated the government's incompetence. Republicans were once defined as the responsible, competent party but unfortunately they failed that test during Katrina. If would be as if the Democrats were exposed as being intolerant or uncaring because those are the things that define who they are to the public.

Heck, even the Foley scandal plays to the incompetence of how Republican leaders handled the situation. People were equally embarrassed by the cover up and blame game going on in Washington as they were to what actually happened to the pages. The public began to wonder if the Speaker of the House cannot even control his own congressman then how is he going to be effective in turning the country around?

So while there is a concerted effort among radio hosts and internet bloggers to scare people with the upcoming Democrat agenda, I just don't think it will sink it with the voters. Sometimes the issues play second fiddle to the desire to have leaders that we trust to get things done. Right now, Republicans do not fit that description and no amount of late advertising or scare tactics can change that perception.