Democrats are getting their act together and not a moment too soon.
President Bush made Social Security privatization his top priority for this legislative session and mentioned that he was willing to spend political capital and go out on some Man Dates in order to see it through. But on Tuesday, Senate minority leader Harry Reid announced that he has lined up the Senate Democrats against the President’s plan. The 44 Democrats alone could filibuster the plan, and at least a few Republicans may oppose also. For good measure, Reid delivered a warning:
“President Bush should forget about privatizing Social Security. It will not happen”
Conventional wisdom had Alberto Gonzales sailing to an easy confirmation. But Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee were able to hold firm forcing a party line 10-8 vote sending Gonzales’ nomination to the Senate floor where it will be debated this week. Reid was able to announce that he had at least 25-30 votes against Gonzales and quite possibly more no votes than the 42 John Ashcroft received in 2001.
Establishment Democrats have been serving up anti-Howard Dean candidates for months now, but each has fallen by the wayside faster than the last. On Tuesday, the last remaining anti-Dean candidate, Martin Frost removed his name from consideration. It’s really amazing that the two remaining candidates, Dean and Simon Rosenberg are the two best men for the job. Dean is an overwhelming favorite at this point, but Rosenberg should still be involved in one way or another.
I admit to being a reluctant Democrat at times, but not today. I grow weary of hearing about blog triumphalism, but not today.
Our leaders did the right thing and did it well. Blogs spread the word and found key weaknesses in the opposition.
Josh Marshall has turned his blog into a 24-7 monitor to shame Democrats who were weak on Social Security. Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong have spent the last three months breaking down the numbers until there was no question about the fallacy of Social Security privatization.
The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee did their job by trying to extract answers about torture and exposing Gonzales’ unwillingness to be honest. Bloggers have banded together to spread the word and pressure Senate Democrats to do the right thing.
There was a huge push from the grassroots to elect Dean DNC chair, even from those (like us) who did not support him for the Presidential nomination.
For a party that has become too used to losing, a few wins (even symbolic ones) are reason to be optimistic for a moment.