Two days ago Meteor Blades made an appeal for a monthlong cease fire of the circular firing squad in favor of getting our butts off our couches and out into the trenches, for the final push. This pissed off Madman in the Marketplace, who basically called Meteor Blades, part Native American, a house nigger. MB responded here.
Madman posts a lot of diaries here and I am glad he does. I like his writing, I am sympathetic to most of his political views, and he provides a good and dissenting viewpoint most of the time.
However, his reading of history and his political strategies are deeply flawed.
Let’s begin with an observation by Chris Bowers.
If Democrats sweep Congress this year, it will be the
first time in history that Democrats will have a congressional majority
without also having a majority of congressional seats in the south. In
the post-election aftermath, we will also have an opportunity to shift
the center of political discussion in this country significantly to the
left. If the coming Democratic landslide is accurately recognized as
largely originating from the netroots and the progressive movement,
Republicans of all stripes will, at least briefly, try to team up with
LieberDems. If Joe Lieberman thus becomes to icon of the American
right-wing, the center of political discourse in this country will have
dramatically shifted in just six years. From 1990-2000, people like Joe
Lieberman were supposed to be the savior of the American left, or so we
were told.Perhaps because it is happening so quickly, I am not sure if people
realize how much a post- New Deal, post-Dixiecrat, and post-DLC
Democratic majority would represent a significant shift in power in
this country. I am not sure if I grasp it yet either, but I think it
would represent the first real break with conservatism this country has
seen since the days of FDR. No matter how much further the progressive
movement would still need to travel, a Democratic victory on November
7th would be no small event in the history of our movement or the
history of our country.
Chris specializes in looking at polls and election results. He is seeing some numbers that are making him a little giddy. I don’t see a takeover of both houses, with our current crop of candidates, as representing some hugely progressive revolution…particularly in the Senate, where our new members would include the pro-life Casey, the pro-torture Ford, the former Reagan official Webb, and the decidedly moderate Tester. Working off current polls, our narrow Democratic majority would include not only these moderates, but also Lieberman, the Nelsons, Pryor, and Landrieu. It was also include the decidely DLC Carper, Clinton, and Bayh. It would include non-progressives like Feinstein, Cantwell, and Salazar. A newly minted Democratic Senate, with pro-life Harry Reid as Leader, would not be some progressive panacea. What’s more, the very success of the strategy of running people like Webb, Ford, and Casey, might encourage Democrats to recruit more of these types of candidates, further condemning the progressives hopes for influence in the Senate. And this makes up the heart of Madman’s call for an abandonment of the Democratic Party in favor of third-party candidates. For Madman, only by the failure of Schumer’s recruitment plan, will the Democrats learn the lessons that are needed to put us back on a New Deal/Great Society footing that will bring us real majority status and real progressive reforms.
Since I have focused on the Senate here, I will follow on and examine this from the point of view of the Senate, even though I think the most significant changes will emerge from the House.
There are not a lot of progressives in the Senate. If I had to make a list I would include Harkin, Kennedy, Boxer, Feingold, Leahy, and Murray. Let’s look at what roles they might fill in a Democratic majority Senate. Harkin would be in line for the Chair of the Agriculture Committee. Leahy would be in line for Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Kennedy would be in line for Chair of the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions committee, Boxer would most likely take over the Environment Committee, Murray would be number two on the Budget Committee.
If we win the Senate, we will also see two new progressives, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, join the caucus and give aid and comfort to Russ Feingold. Feingold does not stand to move to the top of any committees. He currently has low to medium level seniority on Budget, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Intelligence. Those are major committees, and he will have a role.
Now it is time to look at the House. Everyone is probably aware that John Conyers Jr. stands to become Chair of the Judiciary Committee. People are probably less aware that Alcee Hastings, African-American from Florida, has a good chance to head the Intelligence Committee. Or how about African-American Charlie Rangel as head of Ways and Means? Or ultra-liberal Henry Waxman as Chair of Government Reform? Liberal David Obey as Chair of Appropriations? Liberal George Miller as Chair of Education? Barney Frank, a homosexual, as Chair of Financial Services? African-American Bennie Thompson as Chair of Homeland Security? Liberal Tom Lantos as Chair of International Relations? African-American Juanita Millender-McDonald, as Chair of House Administration? Liberal woman, and Kossack, Louise McIntosh Slaughter as Chair of the Rules Committee? Hispanic woman, Nydia M. Velazquez, as Chair of the Small Business Committee? Or liberal James Oberstar as Chair of Transportation?
That’s the future that awaits us. And if we do really well in the upcoming elections, we will not just see Rahm Emanual’s candidates doing well. We’ll see candidates that are truly progressive, that owe nothing or less than nothing to Emanuel, taking positions of power.
It’s impossible for me to see the advantage of the Republicans retaining power in light of the prospects for so many progressives, women, minorities, and even a high profile homosexual, taking Committee Chairs in Congress.
The power in Washington will be much more focused on those Chairs than on the perceived success of Rahm and Chuck. Let George Miller and Teddy Kennedy set our education policy and Leahy and Conyers determine the ways of our laws and courts.
I am not downplaying Madman’s concerns. But the recipe for success is not more failure. The DLC will not be emboldened by this future landscape. The progressives that find themselves suddenly in power will be the driving force for our party going forward. And if we are going to be a truly ruling party, we are going to have, just as FDR and LBJ’s coalitions did, members that are out of the mainstream of the party and that are uncomfortably conservative.
