You Will Find a Great Weight Lifting

I guess there’s a big debate going on about what Democrats should do about tonight’s speech. AOC will be hanging out on BlueSky and going live on Instagram after, but she posted this:

Assholes are gonna asshole, I guess.

I have a few thoughts on the whole thing, but at the outset let me state that I’m not that invested in it. Joint Sessions (which this is technically) and SOTUs are never a fertile political ground for the opposition party. Just ask Katie Britt (stepford wife), Marco Rubio (very, very thirsty) and Bobby Jindal (can’t read a teleprompter, career now over). I don’t think these addresses are a must-watch, and I certainly don’t like watching Trump, so I’ll give this one a big old skip and read about it tomorrow.

That said, if you’re worried or dissatisfied about what about what Democrats are doing or not doing, maybe now is a good time to reflect on the source of that worry or dissatisfaction.

The clear and obvious reason is because we don’t see the leaders in the party meeting the moment. Schumer and Jeffries’ responses have been uneven, don’t reflect much real anger, and have been inconsistent. People like AOC and Jasmine Crockett are making a lot of good noise, and some of us want more of that. Others who are more wedded to the party having a hierarchy and the appearance of coordination are upset that these “rebels” are responding in ways that aren’t blessed by party leadership.

Also contributing to the agida is that this is one of the few times that normies pay attention to politics, and there’s an opportunity for them to take home some message about how Democrats feel about the ongoing coup. I’m guessing that everyone who can’t agree on what the Democrats’ message should be, can agree that there should be one.

But here’s what’s supposed to be the good thing about being the opposition party. Pretty much anything we do — aside from nothing — will get some coverage. So if AOC tweets a few bangers, those might get coverage. If Jasmine Crockett flips Trump off from the floor, it will get coverage. If some members walk out when trans rights are mentioned, that will get coverage. Protest signs will get coverage. Apparently some people are talking about flashing their pocket constitutions — get on with your bad self, I guess.

Opposition should be freeing. You can snipe at whatever you don’t like. You can say that things would be better if we were in charge, and you don’t need a white paper and five economists explaining why. You can just assert it! The one thing I’ve taken home about the Democratic leadership response for the last few weeks is that they take it all way, way too seriously, and that mutes their response.

You don’t need to focus group calling bullshit. Just call bullshit — and the more frank and angry you are about it, the better, as far as I’m concerned.

Steve M is on the same page as me. Just say something. It’s not that hard.