Democrats should enjoy their honeymoon because it won’t last very long. Public opinion is as fickle as a celebrity marriage, and the Democratic victory on Tuesday will create problems, as well as possibilities, for the party.
Some things will be easy for the Democrats. Expect the Democrats to move very quickly for an increase in the minimum wage. An increase in the minimum wage is very popular with voters and referenda to increase the minimum wage passed in all six states where the issue was on the ballot.
The Election Day exit polls indicated that corruption in Washington was the big issue for voters, so tighter ethics rules for Congress are inevitable. Half measures on either of these two issues will ground the Democratic leadership before it has a chance to fly.
But the likely new speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will have a number of very tough calls to make. First she will have to referee the inevitable intramural battle between the new committee chairs who are blue-state liberals and the many new red-state Democrat representatives who are moderates.
The two factions will fight furiously over the hot wedge issues like abortion, gay marriage and gun control. The Wall Street Journal asked one House Democrat what his party would do with a House majority; he said “we’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it.”
Speaker-designate Pelosi will also have to arbitrate the battle between the blogosphere and traditional Democrats, which will come to a head over policy in Iraq. The blogosphere, which supplies grassroots energy and money to the party, will want a short timetable for withdrawing American troops, while traditional Democrats will want to give the Iraqi government more time to get its act together.
The exit polls showed that six out of 10 voters want to withdraw some or most of American troops from Iraq over the next year. The war is an issue where congressional Democrats will have to go out on a limb and demonstrate leadership in order to prevent the United States from being bogged down in the Iraqi morass.
Democratic success will also give the party momentum in its quest to recapture the White House. The Democratic victories in the red states will give the party more flexibility to assemble an electoral coalition that will bring victory in 2008.
But the party needs a presidential candidate who can bridge the gap between the red states and the blue states. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is the hottest person in politics now because of his ability to bridge ideological and racial divides. Another possibility is former vice presidential candidate and North Carolina senator John Edwards. Edwards combines a folksy Southern charm with progressive ideas for fighting poverty in America.
The Democrats need a message that will avoid the potholes of being in the majority and guide the party for the next two years. The message should be that we are all in this together and Democrats will make the federal government work for the common good and not just the private interests of rich people and big corporations.
The historian, Arthur Schlesinger has argued that American politics revolves around generational cycles that continually shift between public purpose and private interest. When John Kennedy asked Americans what they could do for their country in 1961, the president was calling for public purpose. When presidential candidate Ronald Reagan asked voters in 1980 whether they were better off than they were in 1976, he was making an appeal to private interest.
The wages of middle class Americans are not keeping pace with inflationary increases in energy, higher education and health care costs. Banks are foreclosing houses at a record rate.
The centerpiece of the Bush economic program has been a policy of tax cuts that have rewarded rich people and big corporations at the expense of poor and middle class Americans.
Poor kids are fighting our battles in Iraq.
After six years of private interest under President Bush, it’s time for the Democratic Party to summon the nation to public purpose.
Political consultant Brad Bannon works for Democrats.
