Unity Breaks Out Among Democrats

“I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.”
—Will Rogers
If Will Rogers were alive today, he might not recognize the current Democratic Party. From top to bottom, Democrats have been shaken by eight years of Bush policies— and after the legislative failures of the Clinton years, they’ve learned the necessity of uniting behind their popular new leader.
Democrats still don’t display the lock-step discipline of Republicans, but recent examples of dissent are mild given the party’s history. Oddly, the most significant boat rockers are not on the left—they’re moderate Democrats from Republican-leaning states and districts, less than keen on supporting deficit spending meant to stimulate the economy.
When MoveOn.org and Americans United for Change launched ad campaigns pressuring moderates to back Obama’s economic plan, the reaction was interesting. “These groups should leave them alone,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “It’s not helpful to me. It’s not helpful to the Democratic Caucus.” The ads stopped, but still sent a message to the deficit hawks in Congress: There are dangers to bucking Obama and party unity.
There has been little challenge to Obama from the left in Congress. There is considerable angst among some bloggers and commentators over Obama’s policies, but Obama isn’t the one getting the blame. Instead, the progressive narrative is that Obama’s banking policy belongs not to him, but to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers—two Wall Street insiders who have convinced Obama that taking over banks and ousting their executives is too dangerous.
Still, Obama and the Democrats have a great deal at stake in how effectively and quickly banks begin freeing up credit. A Zogby Interactive poll from late March found only 6 percent of adults supported the current policy of “providing government money to banks, as well as buying their troubled assets, with the hope that banks will increase lending.” Fifty-one percent would stop “providing government money, even if that means some of the banks would soon go out of business,” and 32 percent would have the government temporarily take over the weakest banks.
Republicans in Congress are unified in their opposition to the current approach, but haven’t offered a viable alternative. Even if they did, they don’t have the votes to enact it. Congressional Democrats seem to be holding off any challenges to the administration’s bank policy, but will likely do so if they believe the Geithner-Summers plan isn’t working.
Most of the major players in Democratic politics, including labor, issue advocacy groups, donors and office holders, are protecting Obama and focusing on key legislation, particularly healthcare, where disunity 16 years ago helped bring down the Clinton plan.
The strategy among advocacy groups seems to be staying calm and not alienating any potential allies. Unions want labor law reform through the card-check bill, but have not over-reacted to losing the support of Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Michael Bennet, as well as Republican Arlen Specter— all votes they must have to reach the 60 needed for cloture. Unions may be preparing to accept less than the full bill. The environmental movement’s cap-and-trade legislation is in trouble due to regional differences among Democrats, but here too advocates are working toward the possible, not the ideal.
All of this could of course be the calm before the storm, especially if legislation fails to meet the goals of party interest groups.
Republicans made the first mistake by lurching to the right and purging the party of moderate leaders. The GOP could use some disunity—and the sooner the better. It will be painful in the short run, but moving to the center is the only way forward for Republicans. In the meantime, Democrats are in charge and marching in formation.John Zogby is president and CEO of the polling firm Zogby International. You can post comments on political topics in the Zogby Forums at Zogby.com.