Progress?

It seems that now that the Democrats actually have some power, I can think of nothing to do but criticize them. But I suspect a certain amount of dissension, both ideological and strategic, can actually be beneficial to the party. So bear with me as I once again commence in what seems to be becoming a recurring pattern. On November 8th, I was optimistic about Nancy Pelosi's coming Speakership, but recent events have made me a little apprehensive. There was Pelosi's ill-advised effort to elevate Murtha to the post of majority leader, but there are also less publicized items. Pelosi has the authority to chose the leader of the House Intelligence Committee, and the logical choice for the job is the ranking Democrat, Jane Harman. While Ms. Harman may be more independent than Pelosi would prefer, she is intelligent, hardworking, and a far superior choice than Pelosi's preference. Alcee Hastings, a man who was impeached and removed from a judgeship in 1989 for attempting to secure a $150,000 bribe. Perhaps I am judging the Democrats too fast, but it is precisely because of the fact that a party elected last week already is trying to get officials who are corrupt into leadership roles, and expending political capital in power struggles, that I am a little worried. Of course I am glad the Democrats won. Divided government is a tonic that can help revive Washington when it is mired in corruption and inactivity. After all, liberalism is an ideological, not a partisan, system. Progress does not require absolute control by a single party.

Now What?

Well, the Democrats pulled it off. So the question becomes "what happens now?" Well, there are certainly things the Democrats definitely shouldn't do. There has been talk of replacing Howard Dean on the DNC with Harold Ford, who is coincidentally out of work just recently. Dean's cardinal sin, in the eyes of Rahm Emmanuel and James Carville, appears to be that he dared to try and carry forward his 50 State strategy with a congressional election coming up. As we all know, these congressional elections happen only every other year. The time Dr. Dean should have executed his 50 state strategy is right now, after the elections. Ah, but the race for the White House has begun. I suppose Dr. Dean should have postponed his long term plans until after 2008. Of course, then he should really be starting to recruit candidates for those all-important 2010 midterms. Perhaps it would be most convenient for the DSCC and DCCC if Dean would execute his 50 state strategy on a day in January in 2009 and a day in December of 2012. Because Mr. Emmanuel would really like some of that money being used to build permanent field operations to run high-impact attack ads three election cycles from now.
I fear that the Democrats are going to get the wrong message from these elections. Their victory tends to obscure the fact that the party still has some very serious problems that are going to have to be addressed eventually. This victory was decidedly not an affirmation of their ideology, or their organizational skills. But this election has brought encouraging signs. The Democrats have what can now veritably be called the big-tent party. Many commentators have misunderstood the results of this election. It is not that more moderate Democrats were elected (although many were) than it is that a larger variety of Democrats were elected. The challenge for the leadership is going to be keeping the party unified after an election when Bob Casey and Jon Tester ran and won under the same party. But this is what all political majorities must do. If the Democrats want to keep their majorities for the long term, it is important that they keep the very different types of people who voted for them unified in pursuit of common goals. When the Republican coalition lost this degree of unity, they lost their majority. The Democrats have been primarily united by a dislike of incompetence and corruption in the Republican Congress and White House. But these factors aren't long term unifiers for the party. Another unifying force is going to have to replace dislike of a nonexistent Republican majority, and soon.