The President's Jackson Square speech was one of those rare defining moments in the political life of a country and if the democrats are not careful they are likely to blow it. I don't know who has been giving advice to Congressional democrats since 2001 but whoever it is has been as successful as Bush's "Brownie." In 2002 the geniuses of the Democratic Party decided to give the President his war in Iraq so as to focus the midterm campaign on domestic and especially local issues. In 2004 the mistake of 2002 came back to haunt democrats, especially John Kerry, when they tried to explain why they disliked a war that they had voted for. Kerry was more awkward than most in trying to square that circle, but the entire party looked weak, shifty and opportunistic on national security. It is no wonder the republicans made so many gains in the House and the Senate and held onto the White House.
The President's call for a newer and better New Orleans should give the democrats a huge advantage. Since George McGovern's run in 1972, the dems have been uncomfortable talking about the use of force in national security, a real mistake on their part. On the other hand, democrats are supposed to be at ease and thoughtful discussing urban renewal and the problems of poverty, racial discrimination and its lingering effects. So, where is the democratic leadership these days on New Orleans? I think Kerry gave a forgettable response to the Jackson Square speech [At least Congressman Ed Markey has used HuffPost to some effect]. Why aren't Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi or their surrogates in the Gulf region every day telling the American people what is and is not happening there? The press is still reporting continuing FEMA screwups. Why aren't Congressional democrats demanding a review of the concept of a Department of Homeland Security? Why aren't democrats arranging townhall meetings across the country to discuss America in this time of challenges, reminding folks that it was the Democratic Party that gave the country the New Deal and the Great Society? Those programs were imperfect and had some negative effects but they sprang from an understanding that an energetic government can help heal communities, or in political science speak, that there are social goods that cannot be produced by the Market.
I suspect there are two reasons for the political inaction and both are shortsighted. Democrats have been running away from their domestic policy past as hard as they have the McGovern legacy. They fear that recalling the New Deal and the Great Society evokes the L-word and the specter of Big Government, and so it is better to offer the voters conceptual confusion than to open the door to any Republican attack. But what, after all, did George W. Bush initiate last week in New Orleans: a huge government program to alleviate poverty and rebuild a city. Isn't that what democrats do? In 2001 Bush deftly deflected public scrutiny from his weak performance on the day of the attacks (ironically he spent part of September 11, 2001 under secret service and military protection in Louisiana) and created a kevlar war presidency. If the democrats are not smart and nimble he will claim urban renewal and opportunity as his own, too.
The other reason for the democrats' lethargy, I suspect, is the beltway fascination with the president's approval ratings. I have never quite understood why they are supposed to matter in a second term. Bush is not going to run for president again and his nephew is still too young and Jeb has other things to worry about [and these numbers always change dramatically when the two sides start pouring money into political mudslinging anyway]. Yet the Democratic party seems to mistakely associate low presidential approval numbers with its own success. Some highly paid consultant has been arguing that the democrats should let the focus remain on Bush, let him stew in his own mess and see those numbers continue to fall. Wrong. It is time for democrats to start talking loudly about their vision for the country, start talking loudly about why the president's agenda of tax cuts, an open-ended war in Iraq and urban renewal is a recipe for fiscal disaster. They should be talking about the bankruptcy of current conservative ideas in an imperfect world. Sometimes it is morning in America and it is raining. Are there any elected democrats capable of this? If not, perhaps it is time to start a new American party.