Andy Ostroy is a New York City-based political analyst and blogger. He writes the Ostroy Report and is a regular contributor at the Huffington Post. Welcome to OpEdNews, Andy. You recently wrote a hard-biting piece about Congressional Democrats' spineless response to Republican attacks The ACORN Vote: House Democrats Just Stuck a Knife in Their President and Party Tell us why this behavior is so egregious.
Thank you Joan. A pleasure, as always. Here's what it boils down to: The Democratic Party fought hard to win back the White House and now, for the first time in decades, controls both houses of Congress, and has an overwhelming majority in the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Yet it still seems afflicted with the abused-wife syndrome after eight eight years of Bush and basically fourteen years under Republican domination. And now that it has all this power it still, somehow, seems powerless. That Democrats are not rallying around this president to help push through his agenda--the agenda of change which Americans elected him to achieve--is embarrassing and shameful.
If you could give the Democratic 'leadership' a pep talk, what would you say? Where would you like them to start?
Democrats need to embrace power. To embrace their majority and accept it whole hog, and not play the apologist role. Americans voted them into power on a message of change. And it's good-old-fashioned liberal change that they should deliver. They shouldn't waste too much time on "Operation: Bi-Partisanship" either, as it's become abundantly clear this year that the GOP has one singular mission: to undermine the Obama administration and Democrats at every turn so that they can win back Congressional majorities in next year's midterm elections.
How long have you been writing the Ostroy Report, Andy? What got you started?
I started the blog four years ago after John Kerry's loss made me realize that what should be happening in America politically is not. That I needed to do something to help raise awareness and support for Democratic candidates and the issues important to the left.
I hear you. That was my own impetus for getting involved. In fact, I think that's true for many of us. Had you done something similar before? Did you have a history of writing?
Journalism degree, Brooklyn College, 1983. Various little stints here and there in small town newspapers and radio, but hadn't really done much writing until the blog.
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