From www.liberaloasis.com
We are not seeing the Beltway Dems take LiberalOasis' suggestion from last week to attempt to force the intel reform bill onto the House floor with a discharge petition.
This is a shame. Dems need to assert their relevance, not just on this issue, but to set the tone for the next four years.
However, according to CNN's Inside Politics, Dems are looking to keep the pressure on to get the bill passed. That's a possible positive.
But if their moves are strictly bipartisan in nature (as CNN's reporting suggested), they'll be missing a big opportunity.
Because they can't make sharp attacks against Bush if they are coordinating with moderate GOPers.
And there is a pragmatic reason to attack Bush: to sap his cherished "political capital".
We all know that Bush sought to spike the ball on Nov. 4 when he said:
I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.
It is also his style to have a finite list of issues to spend political capital on.
As an old Bush Texas crony, Teel Bivins, once remarked:
[Bush has] said, often times, he doesn't want to waste political capital on issues that he doesn't believe are the top priority.
On Nov. 4, Bush made clear what he considers "top priority":
...I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on, which is...Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror.
Clearly, Bush's actions to date show he does not consider this intel reform bill to be on his list of top priorities.
Otherwise, he would have spent some capital and twisted a lot more arms before now.
The point is: if he "wastes" some capital now, he may have less to spend on the nasty stuff that comprises his real agenda.
Now, despite the half-hearted effort so far from the Bushies, they appear to be trying to turn lemons into lemonade.
Yesterday, Press Sec. Scott McClellan talked of additional actions the White House will take to get a deal in Congress.
This may be just for show, but it also may be that Bush will try to pass something diluted and pass it off as real reform.
If that happens, he might be hailed for toughing out a compromise without angering his caucus. That could add to his capital.
Dems can prevent this scenario.
If they start now, by overtly calling him out on his claims to political capital.
They should say: if he has political capital, he should spend it and get his party in line.
And if he doesn't, that shows how little capital he really has.
That way, any bill will not necessarily be seen as deft political maneuvering from Bush, but the result of Bush cracking under Dem pressure.
And that may be perceived as "spent" capital (as opposed to "invested" capital, which can lead to additional capital.)
Or, if no bill is passed, the perception that he has much political capital (and the concept of political capital is all about perception) would be destroyed.
If the Beltway Dems haven't noticed, the GOP is not afraid to play hardball even with an issue as serious as intel reform.
It's long past time for Dems to do the same. The rest of Bush's radical right agenda may hang in the balance.