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Wake Up Call for Dems
Democratic losses in Virginia and New Jersey are making Democratic congressmen nervous. What will happen to them a year from now when they stand for reelection?
Exit polls circulating on the House floor Wednesday were even more unnerving to Democrats. The Republican candidates, the polls indicated, had received the votes of two-thirds of independent voters.
Now, as the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate prepare for next year's midterm elections, some moderate Democrats are wondering whether they can afford to follow President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda on such controversial issues as healthcare and climate change. One said the results were a "wake-up call."
"There are going to be a lot more tensions between the White House and Congress," predicted Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats. "They've been under the surface so far — and they're going to come out in the open."
Cooper is probably just talking his own book, but even at that I don't really get his point of view. My take on this is pretty different: if there's any broad lesson to be taken from Tuesday's election (about which I remain agnostic for the moment), it's this: independent voters are getting a little weary of endless political battles with no results. The problem is not that Congress is trying to tackle too much, but that Congress isn't getting anything done. That's the wake-up call.
The answer to that is to get something done. Pass healthcare reform, for example. That would be (no pun intended) a huge shot in the arm for Dems of all stripes, demonstrating to skeptical voters that they can indeed govern effectively. Ditto for financial regulation, which is a golden opportunity to harness some populist anger against the financial industry. All Congress has to do is stand up to the finance lobby1 and put some serious constaints on Wall Street's ability to screw people. Think that won't be popular?
As for Obama, he's probably suffering a bit from his lengthy reconsideration of Afghanistan, but once he decides on a way forward that will all be promptly forgotten. Memories are short for this kind of thing.
My guess is that the Jim Coopers of the world have everything to gain and nothing to lose by loosening up, following Obama's lead, getting healthcare reform passed, and then following up with some meaty financial reform. Nobody likes endless wankathons that don't produce results, but they love results once they finally come. Dems need to have a few.2
1Yeah, yeah, I know. What are the odds? I have several thousand words on exactly that subject coming in the next issue of the print magazine.
2And they also need the economy to pick up. That's not entirely under their control, but it's not entirely out of their control either. Get cracking, folks.
Wrong lessons
DC Democrats seem intent on learning them.
Perhaps I am, as you say,
Perhaps I am, as you say, reading my own book, but my take is that ALL voters are getting tired of the Plutocracy. That is, in one way or another, all voters are tired of paying for crap that benefits the rich and costs the voters.
The rich have played one side against the other, one party against the other, for nearly forty years now, and some of the people are getting wise to this and are getting tired of it.
Or this is all wishful thinking on my part and something else is happening.
Tripp
Lead the mob or get run over by it.
Dems need to lead the mob or get run over by it. The populist anger over Wall Street excesses is fueling the tea partiers and depressing Dems living on main street. A little class warfare is badly needed. Co-opting Wall Street is not a plan for electoral success, it is a guarantee for disaster. It boggles my mind that Dems are associating with Big Finance at a time when they should be calling for their scalps.
All Congress has to do is
All Congress has to do is stop taking bribes from the finance lobby.
ftfy
I agree with everything but this:
"As for Obama, he's probably suffering a bit from his lengthy reconsideration of Afghanistan, but once he decides on a way forward that will all be promptly forgotten. Memories are short for this kind of thing."
I have no idea what makes you say this. The point isn't that people want him to make a quick decision. The point is that people want him to make a decision that alters the status quo. For most Americans, this probably means not only a reversal in body counts (fewer dead Americans, more dead Taliban), but an absence of headlines about corruption at every level of the Afghan government. The problem re: body counts is that the addition of tens of thousands of US troops will unquestionably result in more US casualties. Even if these additional troops somehow miraculously have the effect of reducing the rates at which soldiers are killed, the jump in the raw numbers will give the American public pause. And while this might accomplish the goal of killing more Taliban, it will also almost certainly result in more dead Afghan civilians, thereby hastening our ultimate failure in whatever we're trying to do there.
It almost goes without saying that the problem re: corruption is that Obama has no leverage to use against Karzai. Karzai already knows that Obama will have committed to whatever increase he eventually decides on before Karzai can demonstrate that he's even remotely interested in cleaning up his government. In the first place, he's not. In the second place, even if he were, he's incapable. He's just the mayor of Kabul.
Analysis
As for Jim Cooper and the Blue Dogs, their analysis of Tuesday's election will flow toward the lobbyists with the most money.
"Democratic losses in
"Democratic losses in Virginia and New Jersey are making Democratic congressmen nervous."
Really? Why wouldn't the two House seats gained in 2009 make them hopeful? Those, after all, were federal elections.
State governor's races are local and idiosyncratic. If you're running for something in one of those states maybe there's a lesson there for you, but otherwise probably not.
Hey, the Republican in VA was ahead from the get-go and the losing Dem candidate ran AWAY from Democratic policies. Isn't the message there that distiancing onself from the winning coalition is a mistake? Certainly COULD be.
In NJ, whaddya gonna do? Voters didn't like either candidate very well. And Governor Corzine was particularly unpopular. The lesson: DON'T BE UNPOPULAR WITH YOUR CONSTITUENTS. If you are, you will lose. Who needs to told this, exactly?
Cooper is safe
It's especially annoying to hear this crap from Cooper. Here in Nashville, he is about as safe as they come. His district voted for Obama by 20 points. There is no chance a Republican could ever win a seat, and no stomach within local Democrats to challenge him seriously. I just can't believe he went to Washington to make sure that not much got done, but it seems to be so. He's in no political danger. He can do whatever he likes. Apparently, it's this.
well....
that sucks.
Luckily I live in a district where my congressman stands for us (David Price) but down the ole road, we have the lovely and talented (snark) V.Foxx
good luck and all...maybe move?
'an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.' ~~Gandhi
Worth keeping in mind - "in
Worth keeping in mind - "in every Virginia gubernatorial election starting with 1977, the governor elected has been from the opposite party as the President elected by the nation in the previous year, even when Virginia had voted for the President in office, as with Ronald Reagan" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Virginia
My guess is that the Jim
My guess is that the Jim Coopers of the world have everything to gain and nothing to lose by loosening up, following Obama's lead....
Kevin, you saw Obama lead. Where? When? I must have missed it. So far it looks like he hasn't led anything except a beer summit. I have not seen strong, presidential leadership on a single issue.
Wake Up Call
What you poor folk are missing is the elephant in your living room---and it's NOT a GOP elephant, m'dears. It's a great big honking Independent Elephant ready to rampage through Capitol Hill. The GOP doesn't speak for people anymore and neither do the Dems. The 70% of Americans who don't vote just woke up and there's no coffee.
After eight long miserable years of enduring Bush, guess what?
They don't like the cheerless, cruel, self-obsessed, elitist liar in the White House. They are not fond of the grinning, greening, nasty, Freddy Kruger look-a-like who serves as Speaker of the House, nor the Wicked Old Wizard from Nevada, either.
That 70% is FED UP with the WHOLE SHOW. It is NOT business as usual, and it's not going to be, until the People of this nation have their say.
Put all your assumptions on hold about politics in America.
sorry....
you are so bitter...maybe you and/or your 'friends' should've started voting like 9 years ago???' or since they were of age to do so...intelligently.
70% of nonvoters shouldn't be trying to run the country now since they stayed home and did nothing when it was being torn apart by greed and warmongerers, IMO.
just because they 'woke-up' doesn't mean they are smart.
an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.' ~~Gandhi
put your assumptions on hold...
Hello Mr. Beck?