How many times have we gotten ourselves in the crosshairs of a well planned Republican ambush? It happens all the time. All too often, they way out is a well planned surrender ceremony, usually signed on the White House lawn with some new bill screwing Democratic Constituents.
There is another way.
We need to learn the fine art of negotiating with people who have no intention of compromise. There are several strategies we might employ, and others with more negotiating experience may know others. But here is my take on some of the low hanging fruit we might try.
1.Delay
By dragging our feet, scheduling late meetings, and then showing up late and leaving early we can say we are in negotiations without actually being forced into a position.
2.The Half Measure
Often, the GOP has their entire Caucus lined up against us, they are unified and we aren't. We can put forward a measure that satisfies teh bare minimum political requirements for a deal, but leaves the GOP unsatisfied and without a sense of victory.
3.Attrition
It takes a lot of energy to line up your people and keep them in line. If you create a process of endless and ongoing pressure, some of them will peel off eventually.
4.Misdirection
Make them address issues which deflect them away from our vulnerabilities, (a variant of the Chewbacca defense).
5.Pain
See how long they can take it.
Here is an example of how this might work.
We decide that we are unable to get our bill passed with on withdrawal from Iraq. We start out with "delay" and "misdirection". We drag this out while claiming that the GOP is holding up the legislative process. We take shots at the GOP for not supporting the troops. Then we bust out the half measure. We offer up a bill that "fully funds the troops"...for 30 days, while we continue to debate this. Then we bring the pain. We find issues that we win on and they lose on and start to take votes on them. We hold hearings on each and every item. We force the issue at every turn. We debate this endlessly. We blame the GOP for filibustering our ability to pass bills. We build our case and look for alternative options to force concessions from the President. Then after 30 days, we pass another 30 day extension. The whole time we pass bills that fund the clean up of Walter Reed, with withdrawal language. Bush will veto it. We pass bills on each and every issue in this bill. We keep passing extensions until we can certify what everyone already knows, this escalation isn't working. We do this all summer and into the fall. Then we ram this through intact.
The key to any great drama is to start small and basic, build your characters, build your story, and allow the story to rise to a crescendo and then culminates in a climactic battle which resolves the conflict. In the end, we don't just pass our bill, we dance on their grave. Time is on our side. We need to use this process to drive home our points on the Iraq war, use it to define the GOP and force them to own this war.