I agreed with Josh Marshall a month ago, when he wrote that the Democrats have to strategize along the lines of a parliamentary opposition party, but it seems especially important advice now that Social Security battles are coming up:
One thing that Democrats must understand is that they cannot win this battle legislatively. At one level what I mean by that is simply the math we can all see…
As I wrote a month ago, the Democrats have to start seeing themselves as a true party of opposition in large part because of the way President Bush has reshaped the capital into something much more like a parliamentary system. There’s no point in Democrats trying to improve legislation at the margins, because they won’t be given any real opportunity to do so. The logic of the situation dictates coming up with an alternative plan not only to make the differences clear to voters now but to set the issue stage for the 2006 and 2008 elections.
…The worst thing that can happen for Democrats is that a few of their members of congress get played for fools by signing on to President Bush’s plan in the hopes that they can secure some small improvements in the legislation or reflected glory for themselves — slightly less money carved out of Social Security, bumping up the payroll tax cap, etc. Whatever miniscule benefits could be achieved in such a fashion would be greatly outweighed by the way that it would lessen the chances for fixing the damage after the next election.
Given the “Democrats can’t just stand for the status quo” rhetoric you’re hearing from both sides (why must we jettison everything simply because it’s the status quo? Will the Republicans submit to that logic five, ten years from now?), I’m not terribly optimistic that Democrats in Congress can achieve unity on this, but let’s hope they and party strategists start taking Marshall’s advice to heart. And let’s hope the liberal-left wing of the party - normally more interested in culture-touchstone issues more than technocratic ones - will get behind the battle to protect Social Security with full gusto.
No comments have been added to this post yet.