Column: In Winning Election, What Have Democrats Lost?

This story was written by , Daily Collegian

Months of hard work by volunteers culminated in record-breaking voter turnout Tuesday. An unprecedented drive to get out the youth vote, an effort we saw come to fruition right here in State College, helped paint the electoral map blue and has transformed the way young people view their role in the American political process.

For all of this and more, the Democratic Party can be proud.

But as the euphoria wears off, Democrats would be wise to look inward. Though the chaos of the 2008 presidential campaign didn't leave much time for self-reflection, a bit of Democratic soul searching is way past due.

A few weeks ago, my colleague Ryan Pfister, The Daily Collegian's Monday columnist, wrote a piece about Republicans abandoning some central tenets of their party. Instead of staying the course and keeping faith, Pfister argued that many Republicans, in their rush to distance Sen. John McCain from George W. Bush, were deserting their pride.

In this race for an Obama victory, which traits have the Democratic Party left in the dust?

For decades, the Democratic Party has touted its policies as evidence that it is the party of "tolerance." Democrats, it has been rumored, are more accepting and non-judgmental than their Republican counterparts.

Tell that to Ashley Todd, the 20-year-old McCain campaign volunteer who made a false police report thata 6'4" black man jumped her in Pittsburgh. Upon noticing a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on her car, Todd told police, the man carved a "B" into her face for Barack.

The liberal blogosphere was afire with commentary on the racial implications of her false accusations, and many writers pointed to the report as evidence of widespread racism within the Republican ranks. Todd, in fact, was simply a woman with a history of mental illness in need of attention.

Or look at the party's treatment of Joe the Plumber -- a man who dared to question the tax policies of a presidential nominee and was rewarded with an unsolicited probe into his personal life.

Within hours, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher was launched from the status of a concerned voter to the butt of a relentless mainstream media joke. During his 15 minutes of fame, pundits and liberal columnists roundly attacked Joe, revealing details about his tax history, occupational credentials and past political party affiliations.

Tolerance and acceptance?

Though Obama took the high road many times during this campaign -- declining to take swipes at vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin when given the chance and releasing campaign ads that did not strike nearly as low as the GOP's -- not all names on the Democratic ticket were so innocent.

During an interview with Jay Leno, Sen. Joe Biden said that his party would fight for "Joe-the-real-plumber-with-a-license."

Though Democrats claim to celebrate diversity, the attacks on the plumber from Ohio proved that conservative beliefs are not part of the party's vision of a healthy assortment of ideology.

A similar case can be made about Obama supporters' treatment of Palin. Though acceptance of the nomination made criticism of her experience, judgment and even character fair game, some attacks were out-of-bounds.

Many Americans cast votes for Obama with the hope that he would be a transformational figure able to reach across cultural and ideological lines. In order for that to happen, however, the people who elected him must be willing to do the same.

The anger many Democrats felt in the months leading up to this election was not unreasonabl. Some felt that the 2000 election was stolen from them, and the ensuing eight years of Bush rule helped lead us into a costly war and our current economic mess.

Though it was easy to let raw emotion play a central role this election, civility should not have been abandoned.

Wouldn't victory have been that much sweeter?