In the wake of the 2010 congressional elections, President Obama and the Democrats have a choice between combat and capitulation. They say they want to compromise. It looks much more like capitulation.
On November 11, 2010 White House press secretary, David Axelrod signaled that the President may be willing to support an extension of the tax cuts for the rich, in order to obtain a continuation of the tax cuts for the middle class. On Monday, November 29, 2010, President Obama announced that he plans to do a two year pay freeze for federal workers. This was a completely unilateral concession to the Republicans. On November 30, Obama met with the Republicans and told them that he had failed to reach out enough to the Republicans during his first two years of his presidency. He promised to be more bipartisan in the future. The next day, the Republicans announced that they will vote no on everything until the Democrats agree to extend tax cuts for the rich.
With Democrats still in control of both houses of Congress, and with a Democratic president having the veto pen, the Democrats act as though the burden is on them to give the Republicans exactly what they want. They want to call it compromise. It looks like capitulation.
No real compromise is possible today between the Democrats and Republicans. This is because compromise involves give and take on both sides. The Republicans do not believe they need to give up anything, to get everything they want. They have unlimited funding, an activist base, control of most the media, and an opposing party which seems terrified of a fight; any fight. Why compromise? Compromise is only likely when both sides feel they have something to gain by making concessions, or when both sides feel they have something to lose by not making concessions. When one side feels it has to make concessions, and the other side believes it is free to make only demands, without making any concessions, it is called intimidation. The side that is intimidated into giving unilateral concessions is capitulating. In the popular expression, they are "punking out".
It is mysterious why the White House and some congressional Democrats are still pursuing this strategy of "compromise" when their previous attempts yielded so little. Against the recommendations of progressive economists like Robert Reich, The Democrats made the stimulus package smaller and changed its composition to be 40 percent tax cuts, in order to attract Republican support. The Republicans responded with zero votes in the House and only 3 Republican votes in the Senate. Having not learned their lesson from this campaign, Democrats went on to follow the same strategy to pass health care legislation. President Obama took single payer off the table and agreed to maintain George Bush’s gift to the pharmaceutical companies, under which the government agrees to not negotiate for lower prices for prescription drugs. President Obama promised that the health care bill would not add one dollar to the federal deficit. The plan left the for profit health insurance companies in place, and even brought them 30 million new customers. The Democrats abandoned both the Public Option and the option of expanding Medicare coverage to Americans 55 years old and up. Despite all of these concessions to the conservative ideas and the corporate behemoths in health care, the bill received zero Republican votes in both houses of Congress. The Republicans characterized the health care bill, based on ideas from Republican Senator Bob Dole, and very similar to the plan implemented in Massachusetts by Republican governor Mitt Romney as a "radical socialist expansion of government". Next, President Obama offered the unilateral concessions on energy by supporting new nuclear plants and off shore oil drilling. He was rewarded with uniform opposition from Republicans for his cap and trade climate legislation. Against this history, President Obama has come to the incredible conclusion that it is he, and not the Republicans who did not reach out enough. Conservatives, for some bizarre reason like to compare President Obama to Adolf Hitler. It pains me to admit that a more apt comparison is to another World War II era figure; Neville Chamberlain. President Obama’s negotiating strategy to date can objectively be characterized as Chamberlain-like. Start by offering concessions. If the other side is not satisfied with the concessions first offered, offer more.
I am a Democrat who watches this process of capitulation feeling both a sense of betrayal and disgust for the party I vote for. Like millions of Democrats I ask, why? Why does a party that represents at least 50 percent of American voters, that claims to represent the interests of the great majority of the people, and has as of this moment, control of both houses of Congress and the White House, why are they so afraid to fight?
One of the reasons is money. American politicians all spend a lot of time raising money. Democratic politicians raise much of the campaign funds from the same people that the Republicans raise the campaign funds from. Democrats fear antagonizing those funding sources. Democrats are also afraid of the Republicans, who are more organized, more unified, and who articulate a clearer and more consistent message than do the Democrats. The Democrats also fear the press. The press beats up Democrats all the time (despite the myth of a liberal media). Democrats are terrified of having to explain to a reporter why they let the Bush tax cuts expire because they wouldn’t "compromise" and allow a tax cut for the rich. The Democrats are also terrified of the Tea Party. The angry Republican base scares Democratic politicians. They actually show up and town hall meetings and scream at the Democrats at the top of their lungs. Very scary.
There is only one group on the American political scene that Democratic politicians are not afraid of. They are not afraid of their own base. The Democratic politicians are not afraid of Democratic voters. They are afraid of everyone else. The Centrist Democrats believe that they can hold onto liberal voters no matter what they do. They believe that "the left has no where else to go". The Centrists also believe that they can grow the Democratic party by "moving to the center". This of course means making the Democratic party more conservative. In their calculus, moving to the right is a process of addition. As the party moves to the right, more "independents" and "moderates" jump on the Democratic bandwagon. The liberals do not jump off the bandwagon; remember, they have no where else to go. So in the minds eye of the Democratic Centrist, what appears to the base Democratic voter to be craven capitulation, is actually a set of clever tactical moves to grow the Democratic party. We don’t capitulate because we lack principles and courage, or because we’ve been bought off by the same corporatist fat cats who own the Republican party; we capitulate because we are trying to attract independents. Centrist Democratic politics is a delusional rationalization.
The Democratic party is either going to stand up to the Republican party, or they are going to lay down without a fight (again). History and the body English of the Democrats tells us they are getting ready to lay down. If the Democrats pass tax cuts for the rich, that will be a critical break with principle. At a time when the top one percent of earners are receiving nearly one fourth of all income in America, a Democratic controlled Congress, with a Democratic president holding the veto pen, is going to give billionaires a tax cut, while telling low level federal workers that they need to take a pay freeze for the good of the nation. And once they cross this boundary, they will not stop with giving a tax cut to the rich. The Democrats will help the Republicans implement the poisonous "deficit commission" plan, with cuts for social security, cuts Medicare, taxes on the health care benefit’s that Americans receive through their employers, while lowering taxes even further for the wealthy. This tax cut so violates the spirit of what the Democratic party claims to stand for, that I believe it will do irreparable damage to the Democrats as a political party. But worse than that, It will do irreparable to the American middle class. The Democrats plan to capitulate and co-sign the Republican attack on the middle class. Republicans, who are smart enough to know they need democratic co-signers to provide political cover for policies that will spread pain to the many in order to further enrich the few. That is the real meaning of "bipartisanship". You should shiver when ever you hear the word. Bipartisanship is when Democrats hold working people down so Republicans can hit them.
If the Democrats are not willing to draw a line and defend the interests of working class Americans, then it is time for the voters to draw a line with them. Voters, particularly the base Democratic voters, must rebel against the Democratic party. The Democratic party is afraid of everyone else. It is time to make them a little afraid of their own voters. We either resist, or we watch as the Democratic party provides political cover for a Republican austerity program. Like the Democratic party itself, we too must either fight or lay down. I say fight. Here is what we must do:
- Raise your voice. Contact the White House, the DNC, Democratic congressman, and for those who live in red districts, Republicans as well. Bombard them with emails and phone calls letting them know that the voters see what they are doing, are unhappy about what they are doing, and are not going to forget it two years from now. Encourage your friends and relatives to do the same.
- Stop giving money to Democratic party. If the Democratic National Committee or Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or the White House sends you a letter requesting funds, type up a letter letting them know what problems you have with their policies and send them the envelop back without a dime in it. If Democratic voters want to contribute to progressive Democrats, give to Act Blue or Democracy for America.
- Join progressive organizations. Get involved with like minded people.
- Start planning primary challenges now. We need to track how our representatives are voting on key issues, and we should look for candidates who are willing to run in primaries against Democrats who sell out the voters.
Put the Democratic party on notice that their base is not going to be a doormat, even if they are willing to be doormats for the Republicans.