The Horrible Burdens of Gratitude

Jeez. Sometimes a word gets used in such weird ways, I don't even know what to make of it. Via Jon Schwartz, Example #1:

Q: What is the biggest lesson you have learned from the Iraq war?

A: The ingratitude of the Iraqis for the extraordinary favor we gave them -- to release them from the bondage of Saddam Hussein's tyranny. They have rapidly interpreted it as something they did and that we were incidental to it. They've more or less written us out of the picture.

I'm not sure I can wrap my head around the craziness of that statement. Example #2:

As a result, it's easy for talking heads to paint Democrats as a bunch of complainers who attack Republicans while putting forward no ideas of their own. MSNBC's Chris Matthews calls them “kids in the back seat,” whining and asking, “are we there yet?” And in a column last winter, the U.S. News & World Report columnist Gloria Borger criticized Democrats for being, yes, “reflexively critical,” and scolded that it wouldn't kill them to show a little “gratitude” once in a while.

What the hell is wrong with people? As if gratitude is owed to someone when they do anything at all never mind the context or the consequences. Bizarre.

That second example, by the way, is pulled from Amy Sullivan's latest for the Washington Monthly. The article is basically a summary of the number of things the Dems are finally doing right since 2004. Here's the part that infuriated me though:

But that changed with the heartbreaking loss in 2004. The defeat of Daschle, the nice-guy Democratic leader, and the nasty tactics of the campaign against him particularly outraged congressional Democrats. The anger was only compounded by the party's new degree of powerlessness. They didn't control a single thing in Washington—not the House or the Senate or the White House. Autocratic GOP chairmen turned off their microphones at hearings, reporters ignored their press conferences, and late-night comedians used them as the butt of every joke, a kind of institutional Kato Kaelin. And the base was mad as well; everywhere Democrats turned, they got an earful from activists and funders who wanted the party to fight back, to kick some ass. In the end, Democrats snapped.

This is what's amazing - that it took 2004, not 2002 to teach the Dems this lesson. 2002 - with the Saddam-baiting and smearing of veterans like Cleland - should have been the wake-up call that Dems needed, but Daschle never rose to the challenge. It just confirms that Daschle was never going to be the one to lead the Dems as a strong opposition. The party may have been shocked, but he deserved to go.

Anyway, the article as a whole is much more optimistic than I'm portraying it here, so you should read the whole thing.