Roger Wolfson: Hail Mary for the Democrats

Democrats need to face a few realities when it comes to saving our planet and the future of the human race. My friends may be shocked that Roger Wolfson is referencing sports. But the bad news is – using the analogy of a 60 minute football game – we’ve got about sixty seconds left on the clock and we’re on our own five-yard line.

But the good news is, we’ve got the ball. In the same way that the stars aligned for Trump to win in 2016 – with the Comey letter, the Russians, and a social media ground game that swamped Clinton’s – the stars are aligning for Democrats in 2020. The pandemic is tailor-made to showcase Trump’s weaknesses as a leader and a human being. Democrats are ahead in the Presidential, Congress, in swing states, and are surprisingly competitive in statehouses that have been solidly red for a solidly long time.

But the party is anxious about our likely quarterback. Biden picking a great receiver as VP is unlikely to help in the long run (sure, he’ll get a short-term bump but VP selections rarely have a meaningful impact in the general).

We do not have a home-court advantage. Thanks to the Electoral College, gerrymandering, and the US Senate, winning national elections and Congress means we are playing in the Republican’s stadium.

And the Refs are Republican, too. For decades, the GOP has been focused on top-and-bottom defense. At the top, they have effectively stacked the Courts with young, aggressively conservative federal judges and Justices. They have outright stolen the Supreme Court. At the bottom, they have taken control of enough statehouses to rig the next Census and redistricting efforts so that they can continue to gerrymander the House of Representatives and flush state courts with aggressively conservative state judges as well.

Next – the Republicans have a deeper bench. There’s a ton more money on the far-Right than on the Left. And Republican fans are more rabid than we are. They show up at every game, not just the Super Bowl. They vote in every election. They get more excited. They are more dedicated, more homogeneous, more willing to forgive Republican fumbles.

Lastly – the game is being televised, commented on, and disseminated to the public on Republican TV. The Democrats do not have a 24-hour propaganda network like FOX (no, MSNBC is not the Fox on the Left. It’s still a reputable news source, not a propaganda network). Consequently, no matter what Democrats do, we cannot count on the public understanding it, appreciating it, or even believing it.

So – we are at the 5. Time is running out. How do we make it 95 yards in only one or two plays?

We need to fire up the base. We need to build back our confidence. We need to be positive. We need to be aware of our past victories despite tremendous odds like this. We need to be brutally honest about the obstacles against us and work as a team to understand and overcome them.

And we may not be able to count on our quarterback to do this for us.

We need, each of us, to take the ball ourselves. To be the leader we want, ourselves. To be the player we need, ourselves. To be the teammate, audience, broadcaster – to play every role we can. This is our game. Not Biden’s, not Trump’s. We paid for that stadium. We paid for our tickets. We paid for that ball.

Let’s get in the game, Democrats. Because it is all on the line, now.