Right after Democrats took control - or maybe in the interim period between the elections and the new Congress - I was invited to participate in two conference calls; one with Nancy Pelosi and one with Harry Reid.
Each of the new leaders told those of us that were on the call that Democrats were not going to keep the same rules the Republicans had imposed; instead they'd go back to giving the minority a voice and a significant ability to shape Congressional actions - whether it be legislation, the agenda, procedural postures, etc.
Personally, I was aghast. I told Reid that the Republicans "had been flushing his head in the toilet for years" - someone promptly stepped in to rebuke me for being so crass, so I never got to finish the point.
The point is this: when Republicans are in power, they take every advantage available to affect their despicable agenda. They truly disempowered the Democrats - especially under Tom Delay. Their scorched-earth tactics didn't stop at the chamber doors, either. The K-Street Project, leveraging of the Justice Dept and judiciary, all the agencies... Throughout the power infrastructure of Washington DC, Republicans mercilessly abused Democrats.
You know, I don't know how much personality politics played into it, but I suspect not much. This was about getting things done and building a sustainable infrastructure.
So...
When Democrats took the Hill and unilaterally surrendered - before feeling the gavel in their hand for the first time... well, I was appalled.
Republicans never brought up legislation that didn't have the support of the majority of the majority. They excluded Democrats from conference and bill drafting committees. The impeached Bill Clinton for a blow job. They spent hundreds of millions investigating Vince Foster and Whitewater and Travelgate and Henry Cisneros and... and... and...
Harry and Nancy allow Republicans to introduce bills criticizing the Democratic base. They negotiate with their counterparts to set agendas and procedural postures. They investigate scandals, but allow their subpoenas to be ignored with impunity.
Surveying the historic terrain, what we find is this: couple of decades of Republican control in which a radical corporatist/conservative agenda was prosecuted effectively and aggressively. Now that the public is sick of such a state, Democrats have been elected and the first thing they did was to slice both of their own hamstrings. Now, even under a Democratic led Congress, a radical corporatist/conservative agenda is being prosecuted effectively and aggressively. Democrats aren't even a speed-bump.
So the question is this: what do we do about it?
Update [2008-2-12 15:39:53 by Mike Stark]: (A correction) It has been pointed out to me that the anti-base legislation I was speaking of (the MoveOn condemnation) wasn't brought to the floor for a regular vote - it was part of a motion to recommit. KagroX did a pretty good job of explaining it, but if you are interested, you can find good background here:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://democrats.senate.gov/... (search page for 'motion to recommit')