Call this one
another lost opportunity for the Democratic Party. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed raising CA's minimum wage to $7.25 this fall and $7.75 by July 2007. Why is a
Republican out front on that issue?
Yeah, I know. A few days ago there was an article in The Boston Globe that quoted Democrats saying they were prepared to make a minimum wage increase an issue in 2006. Whoever told it to The Globe was too timid to attach a number, so Arnold went ahead and did it for them. And in doing so, I think he snatched that candy bar right out of the stroller.
In my comments on this issue a few days ago, I argued that the Democrats should stick a $10 minimum wage on the national agenda. The current $5.35 is a national joke. So is $7.25 in CA. That's nothing more than the
de facto minimum wage. It does nothing.
But look where it puts the Democrats. Now, if the Democratic Party comes out with a $10 an hour minimum, they'll have opened themselves up to the charge of pandering to the poor -- bidding for votes. I'm afraid that in one fell swoop, Arnold (a phony if I've ever seen one) just snatched a good issue from under the Democratic Party's timid little mouse feet.
This is what happens when a once-great, once-bold political party becomes scared of its own shadow. You have Republicans out front. McCain the point man on torture. Schwarzenegger the point man on the minimum wage. Gee, by the time November 2006 rolls around, what will our side's gutless wonders have to talk about, anyway?