Anthony Lane’s review of the Da Vinci Code should be your first stop in this week’s New Yorker. I was a bit disappointed in his review of Cruise and MI3 a few weeks ago. I though he could have been a lot ruder. But Lane has reinstated himself as my favorite literary crush after this: “There has been much debate over Dan Brown’s novel ever since it was published, in 2003, but no question has been more contentious than this: if a person of sound mind begins reading the book at ten o’clock in the morning, at what time will he or she come to the realization that it is unmitigated junk? The answer, in my case, was 10:00.03, shortly after I read the opening sentence…”

heh. But this post isn’t about Lane. It’s about Jeffrey Goldberg’s article “Central Casting: What is the Democrats’ Best Way to Win.” (The article isn’t on line, but an interview with the author is.)

Despite a huge opportunity landing on their lap, Goldberg says that the Democrats show every sign of fucking it up. It could be 1964 all over again. In ’64, huge, new class of freshman Democratic congressmen was elected, which gave Johnson the chance to push through the Great Society program. 1964, people. And instead, we’re already making mistakes like that Lamott thing and Pelosi keeps making an ass of herself and the best we’ve got is Hillary. Okay, back to the article.

Goldberg cited some very useful numbers:
In 2004, 61% of church-going voters said they voted for Bush; 39% went to Kerry.
59% of voters with kids supported Bush; 40% for Kerry.
21% of Americans self-identify as liberal
34% as conservative
45% as moderates

In order to win, Democrats have got to pull almost 2/3rds of moderate voters. They also have to get those church-going voters with kids.

Even Howard Dean gets this. I didn’t realize that he was so strong on national security issues, until I read this article, but he is. And this is one of the issues that is important to middle America.

Democrats also have to play nice with religious folks. Respect. You may not agree with their positions on things, but stop that sneering. We aren’t going to get elected that way.

Dean has tried to reach out to, among others, evangelical Christians, and he doesn’t like what he suggests is the Party’s gradual abandonment of the socially conservative but economically liberal working class. ‘The Democratic Party was built on four pillars — the Roosevelt intellectuals, the Catholic Church, labor unions, and African-Americans,” he said not long ago. “But we had stopped communicating with the Catholics and with labor, and so all you have left was the Roosevelt intellectuals and the African-Americans.”

My man, Obama, comes out of the article shining. He’s not ripe enough for 2008. Too bad, because he’s the man. He gets middle American more than anybody else in the Democratic leadership. Not like Pelosi, who wants to waste time by subpoenaing Bush for two years. I’m past that. Bush is roadkill. We have to step over his dead body and get some work down, rather running him over with the car again and again.

Goldberg spends some time interviewing Democratic candidates in Missouri. They say they don’t want Hillary down there campaigning for them. The red states hate her, even if she is trying to be the moderate.

But it all comes down to respect. The former Virginia Governor said that it would be dumb to nominate Clinton who would only have appeal in 16 states. “Part of this is just showing respect. Respect for culture, faith, values. You know, not everybody wants to live in a big city…. I don’t think it’s only about faith; it’s about values and respect. It’s about being comfortable at a NASCAR race as wellas in a boardroom.”

Goldberg writes, “The Democratic Party of 2006 bears little resemblance to the party that dominated American politics from 1932 until 1964. But if the New Deal coalition has dissolved, there is a persistent desire to revive it — and to modernize it — especially among those who feel estranged from the Party’s national leadership. ‘We used to be the party of the big tent, Montana’s Governor Schweitzer said. “We have to respect regional differences. A Democrat in Montana looks a little different from one from Massachusetts. You don’t have to agree with my idea about gun control, but you’ve got to respect it.”

It’s a damn good article. I have no patience with people who have no interest in getting elected. No common sense or vision. No interest or sympathy for the people who enter the voting booth. Too bad that Obama isn’t ready yet.