Posted by
Always To The Right on Thursday, November 06, 2008 12:51:17 PM
While some Democrats celebrate what they see as a game-changing election, others have decided to start scaling back expectations already.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid both said yesterday that they had learned
from previous failures of both parties in overreaching and antagonizing
the middle of the electorate. For those who voted “change”, this may
sound a sour note through the revelry over Barack Obama’s victory
But to get what done? A senior aide to Pelosi said he did
not envision the House Democrats “going off on an ideological mission”,
and pointed back to 1993 as an example. Democrats won the White House
back after twelve years along with majorities in Congress and decided
to go after radical change in health care. They discovered that the
electorate wasn’t at all radical when they got bounced out of
Congressional leadership for the first time in 40 years.
That probably means the Freedom of Choice Act will not be the first
item on the priority list, as Obama promised Planned Parenthood. There
would be no better way to stir the hornet’s nest than to get abortion
on demand, complete with federal funding, in the early days of the
session. Without a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, I doubt
that Card Check will come up soon, either. Democrats can’t afford to
anger either constituency for long, but they will probably wait until
some of the pressing budget and tax issues get settled first.
Democratic leadership obviously wants to play long ball here. If
they try enacting a sweeping shift to the Left, a suspicious electorate
will almost certainly penalize them, especially in the Blue Dog
districts that elect more conservative Representatives. In 2010, the
ground is much more even for Republicans in the Senate than this year,
and a radical 111th would give the GOP some easy targets. If they’re
smart, they’ll kick the most controversial measures down the road a bit
while trying to reassure voters that they can be trusted with one-party
government.