Inspired by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House progressives have a fervent belief that they now have a mandate for radical economic and social change in America. They demonstrated just how fervently last week when they trashed their own seniority system and replaced longtime House Energy and Commerce chairman John Dingell, D-Mich. with Henry Waxman, the Democratic congressman who represents Hollywood. The shake-up was a very pointed jab at moderate Blue Dog Democrats who represent districts that are considerably less liberal than Beverly Hills and who supported Dingell. Now the progressives may learn that poking dogs is not a good idea because sometimes they bite back.
Centrist House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., tried to warn his fellow Democrats against doing just that in a recent speech at the National Press Club: “We must remember where our majority came from. We did not just make full-blown ideological converts of the other half of the country. What we did do…was convince majority-making independents that we will govern responsibly at a time of national crisis.” That is exceptionally sound advice from a consummate politician.
Not everybody on Capitol Hill got the message. Although Pelosi had previously acknowledged that “the country must be governed from the center,” she actively plotted behind the scenes to replace Dingell, a loyal Democrat and the longest serving member of the House. By contrast, Waxman, an able politician in his own right, nevertheless is far more radical and polarizing than Dingell.
Thanks to the efforts of Rahm Emanuel, who recruited Democratic candidates in Republican districts, the moderate Blue Dogs increased their numbers this year and now account for a fifth of the House membership. Add their 51 votes to a diminished, but more cohesive Republican minority and you have a bloc that can derail President-elect Barack Obama’s key policy initiatives, especially his enormously expensive health care and energy proposals, or stop radical changes on hot-button social issues like abortion, gay marriage and gun control in their tracks. Top Blue Dog John Tanner, D- Tenn., emphasized his coalition’s independence when he defiantly stated that “nobody can order us to do anything.”
After being spurned by Pelosi, Blue Dogs will be even more tempted to break party ranks when it comes time to vote for economy-strangling, job-killing, religion-bashing measures that they will have to explain to angry voters back home. As Hoyer correctly noted, most of the Blue Dogs ran as bipartisan, fiscally responsible moderates in right-leaning districts that could easily flip back to GOP control in two years if Democrats try to steer the country too far to the left.
