Whither the Democratic Majority?

History tells us that in a mid term election the party in power in Washington will lose seats in Congress. History also tells us that when the economy is not doing well the party in power will be punished at the polls. A significant Republican victory then, seems pretty much inevitable. Add to that the success the Republicans have had in coopting the message for this election cycle, and it seems safe to say that the Democrats will have trouble holding on to their majorities in Congress.

In order to consider the possibility of at least mitigating the worst effects of this imminent disaster for Democrats, one has to have a pretty clear picture of what has happened over the past twenty months since the inauguration. The mood after the inauguration was in sharp contrast to the present mood in the country. It is almost hard to believe how many voices were raised in predicting the permanent demise of the Republican Party. The enthusiasm was short lived, there was no honeymoon, but what precipitated the downward spiral and can it be slowed or reversed?

Clearly the initial ebullience was not warranted and the failure of the economy to rebound rapidly made the continuation of the euphoria impossible to maintain. Yet, there were also mistakes and missteps on the part of the administration and the Democratic Congress that contributed to the current state of affairs. Unfortunately, the President's desire for bipartisanship turned out to be his first mistake. Once the Republican strategy was set to be non cooperative, the presidents efforts to appear reasonable and willing to compromise began to look weak and indecisive. The biggest ongoing failure has been the inability of the administration and Democrats to craft a simple message that explained the importance and value of the agenda they were working to implement. Another failure was the inability to get a large contingent of surrogates in and out of Congress on the road proclaiming the good news of the Obama agenda. Too often the president appeared to be a one man show trying to make reform take place all by himself. The Democratic Congress has been a party to failing to promote the Obama agenda. The lack of party unity in contrast to lockstep Republican fealty made criticism of the Obama agenda seem more acceptable. If even Democrats couldn't agree on the importance of the agenda, well, maybe it wasn't so good.

One also has to consider what Republicans have done that has worked so well for them. It is, of course, always easier to attack a policy than to promote one of your own. As mentioned, the unity they have mustered enabled them to stop or dilute much of the Obama agenda that might have helped turn the economy around more quickly. Republicans have been able to craft talking points that hearkened to a lot of the anxieties many people felt, and they have repeated them over and over until much of the public has accepted them as true. In contrast Democrats have had difficulty stating their positions on most issues in clear and succinct language. The Republicans however, have had no problem defining Democratic positions: wasteful spending, big government, socialism, bailouts, government takeovers, etc.

What can Democrats do now to minimize the damage? One of the big things is that in so many cases what the Republicans are saying and what they are running on simply does not square with reality. Over and over again it needs to be pointed out where their positions and their rhetoric simply are not true. Their figures don't add up. Democrats need to develop stronger talking points. They should not apologize for their achievements, but rather explain the benefits of health care reform, financial regulation, etc. They need to point out the problems with current Republican candidates and their dangerous policies and beliefs. Don't underestimate them, but hold them accountable and force them to debate the issues. If they refuse to debate don't let them off the hook even if you have to use the empty chair technique. If they are afraid to debate make sure the voters are aware of their fear of debating or of talking to reporters.

When voters make up their minds and cast their votes on November 2nd they need to consider a couple of additional factors. Yes, the economy is not doing well and too many people are out of work. Yet truth matters as you cast your vote. Despite constant rhetoric to the contray, the bank bailouts worked. As pointed out in "A Lonely Success: Don't Forget: The Bailouts worked" by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek on 9/27/2010, the government will recover around 90% of bailout funds. It turned out to be a bargain. It did prevent a collapse of our financial system. Some may say we should have let the economy fail and see how long it would have taken to recover. What president or administration would have wanted to be responsible for the pain that would have followed for millions of Americans? Things are bad, but a depression was clearly avoided. Would we really want to relive the history of that period just to say we avoided the dreaded bailouts.

You may also want to check out an article in the Los Angeles Times of September 20, 2010 by Garret Gruener. He argues that the Bush tax cuts should expire for the wealthiest Americans. As a wealthy American he asks to be taxed. He suggests that additional tax revenues that are generated be used to invest in infrastructure and research. His point is that modest changes in tax rates for wealthy taxpayers don't make much difference in building new companies or stimulating new industries. After the Bush tax cuts the wealthy ended up saving much of it and middle class folks weren't able to afford to spend much additional money without borrowing excessively. That is part of what led us to our current economic state. The result has been a level of inequality that has gotten farther out of balance than just about any period in our history. Yet, the wealthy cry class warfare whenever these inequalities are pointed out. As Greuner says, we have forgotten what Henry Ford knew; that the economy needs not just investors but people who can afford to buy the cars he makes.


People are angry. The economy has not recovered. What do we do? Look at congress. The current policies many feel are not working or have not worked fast enough. Yet look at the Republican efforts in congress. Their performance has been clear and pretty much monolithic. They have refused to engage. They have obstructed everything. You may feel some things needed to be obstructed, but everything? Even policies like tax cuts for small business were resisted, despite the fact that this has always been a solid Republican proposal. They do not have a policy for making things better. They seem only interested in destroying a president and in seeking their own political gain. What do they offer if they come to power? Their only policy is tax cuts for the wealthy and the elimination of regulation. They have no plan to improve the country. Before you cast your vote in November make sure you are voting for someone who is more interested in you and your needs than in gaining power or serving corporate interests.