Big Tent, Big Trouble
With the presidency and both houses of Congress, being a Democratic President may seem easy, but it is not. Like tying three sticks together to reach out for something, the result is anything but strong.
David Brooks writes in the New York Times:
The great paradox of the age is that Barack Obama, the most riveting of recent presidents, is leading us into an era of Congressional dominance. And Congressional governance is a haven for special interest pleading and venal logrolling.
While it is true that Obama is adored by many and strikes terror in the minds of the opposition (who somehow really are convinced Democrats think of Obama as a “savior?) he is not an FDR type, or even a Reagan. He’s a Lincoln-type, patient and thinking in the long-term. Rather than expending all his energy on every battle, he sets his agenda and lets others do the heavy lifting.
As Brooks points out, the results are not always what his supporters want, and his opponents often think they can claim a victory, but the ball is moving down the field. It is the art of the practical, the Political Pragmatist.
The new idea being floated in the MSM is that Democrats are beginning to come apart, fight amongst themselves, and starting to stumble. After a long period where Republicans were able to hold their coalition together in a cohesive unit, it is almost hard to watch the Democrats. They all seem to go off in different directions at the same time. All have different drummers to which they are marching. Trying to imagine the unity on the Democratic side that they Republicans showed in opposing the stimulus package is hard, remembering they once did is impossible. (3 Senators voted for Bush’s tax cuts; the rest opposed.)
Chris Cillizza of The Fix blog in the Washington Post has it right.
Nearly three-quarters of the 44 who opposed the (energy) bill either are on House Republicans’ target list or are running for statewide office in a conservative leaning state in 2010 — a classic bifurcation between those who are on the ballot in a midterm election and a president who doesn’t stand in front of voters for another three plus years.
Bullseye! The Democrats are not the monolith that the Republicans are. The only competition a Republican faces is from his right, an even more conservative conservative. Democrats in many districts face Republicans on their right and primary challenges from other Democrats on their left who are frustrated by the conservative lean of many Democrats in conservative districts. This puts a lot Democrats in a tough spot.
The only good news for conservative Democrats is they are not subject to being “Spectered” out of the party.
In the Senate, it’s even more pronounced. Senator Max Baucus is a conservative, as much as Arlen Specter and retiring Senators Voinivich of Indiana and Martinez of Florida, and Baucus is more conservative than Maine’s Senators Snowe and Collins. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is hard core. Senators Lincoln of Arkansas and Landrieu of Louisiana are facing tough battles to retain their seats in Southern states, obviously not a sure vote for Democrats in the Senate.
After thirty years of polishing their ideology and pushing out moderates, the Republican party is as hard as a diamond and impossible to crack. The Democrats comprise the rest of the spectrum, at least as far as leading the country.
It’s like this: On a scale of 1 to 10, Republicans are 9 and 10 and Democrats are 1 through 8. (Where the center is certainly can be debated, whether it is 6 or 4.9.) Keeping a party this wide under control is a difficult task. That Democrats have managed to get as much done as they have is both remarkable and a testament to Obama’s leadership skills. (As well as the strength and commitment of the White House staff; they are completely in tune with the president and 100% disciplined.)
With all the problems he inherited–a $2 trillion deficit, 2 wars, the worst recession since the Depression, unemployment approaching double digits, anyone one of which would be difficult to manage but taken in total overwhelms the mind–Obama and the Democrats in Congress have the country feeling they righted the ship. The numbers have come back to earth from the initial euphoria, but Americans still think the country is moving in the right direction from the depths of despair a year ago.
The objections that none of these problems have been fixed in the first six months of the Obama administration is laughable. The war in Afghanistan (2002), the war in Iraq (2003), and the recession (beginning in Dec., 2007) are huge problems that did not pop up since January 20th, 2009. The only people who seem to have expected the Democrats to fix the problems so fast are Republicans. It’s always good when somebody else repairs what you broke, huh? Makes you feel better.
Democrats did not elect Obama to be the “messiah,”–that title was given him by Republicans. He was elected to be President, and to lead the Democratic Party into a new era. That might be a bigger job than cleaning up Bush’s messes.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 2:04 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Leave a Reply
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook