The Democrats' moment
Toolbox
Published: November 5, 2009
The defeat of Democrats in races for governor of Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday has raised questions about whether political momentum is shifting against the Obama administration. At the same time, the victory of a Democrat in the congressional district that includes Plattsburgh, N.Y., demonstrates that the Republicans still have the capacity for self-immolation.
Democrats are great worriers, so they may take the results in Virginia and New Jersey to mean that in order to win they must become more like Republicans. That is the losing strategy that left Democrats in the wilderness for a generation.
Among Democrats the debate has been whether President Obama should jettison attempts to work with Republicans or carry on by pushing initiatives that contain elements of compromise. So far he has tried compromise.
Now, as Congress takes up health care and other crucial initiatives, moderate or conservative Democrats can ensure their own doom by going weak in the knees. Obama and his fellow Democrats have an agenda taking shape in Congress, and they need to hang together to pass it.
Obama's difficulty in prodding Congress to act on health care reflects the reality that in the Senate the minority retains the power to gum up the works and that even within the majority Obama has had to cater to conservatives such as Sen. Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana.
Yet the failure of Congress to pass meaningful health care reform is likely to endanger moderates far more seriously than passage of a bill would do. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday that he could not guarantee action on health care this year, pushing back even further passage of the crucial bill. He is probably worried about pusillanimous fellow Democrats, such as Ben Nelson of Nebraska or independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. But if Reid cannot maneuver health care to passage, the whole enterprise will go down in flames, doing enormous damage to Obama and to Democrats like Reid who are seeking re-election next year.
For these reasons the time has passed when Obama and the Democrats in Congress can look to Republicans for help crafting post-partisan solutions to the nation's problems. Republicans have shown themselves unable or unwilling to take on the range of challenges we now face — health care reform, financial reform, economic stimulus, climate change — leaving Democrats the job of actually exercising leadership. Thus, Republicans have free rein to snipe and snarl.
That is what they did in that congressional race in New York, and for the first time in more than 100 years the district has elected a Democrat. A klatch of right-wing figures, including Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, had turned against the Republican, Deirdre Scozzafava, because of her liberal views on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and the economy. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman became the darling of the right, and Scozzafava threw her support to Democrat Bill Owens. The voters of the 23rd District decided they did not need Sarah Palin to tell them how to vote, and they elected Owens.
The radical right thus showed its power to drive out moderate voices and to shape the Republican Party into a narrow ideological sect. If they keep it up, they may end up driving other conservative districts into the arms of the Democrats.
It appears that when Republicans cater to their core supporters, they become an ever smaller party. If the Democrats stand by their principles, they will become a stronger party. The nation elected Obama last year because he promised change on health care, the economy and a host of other issues. The Democrats need to deliver change. Health care reform is on the verge of passage in Congress and would represent an enormous gain for Democrats of all stripes and for the nation.
The Republicans still have the power to misrepresent what health care reform is about — that it is a government takeover, that it will make health care inaccessible — but it is the responsibility of the Democrats to stand up against these misrepresentations and to act.
The election results should not encourage weakness on the part of Democrats. It should encourage strength.
40