Wedge Issues

With the 2010 midterms approaching, it's time for Democrats to clearly differentiate themselves from the faux populist Republicans. I've identified several key wedge issues the Democrats would be smart to utilize in painting themselves, as opposed to the Republicans, as the true defenders of the people's welfare:

1. Financial regulatory Reform. I've noted in prior posts how the Republicans plan to block the creation of a Consumer Credit Protection Agency, which would essentially protect consumers from unfair and excessive credit card and mortgage fees, arbitrary interest hikes, and the like. The Republicans will be opposing such a new agency--in any form--as well as opposing financial regulatory reform in general. How will voters react to the party defending the interests of big banks and hedge funds?

2. Bank Fees. The Obama Administration unveiled a plan to recoup the remaining unreturned TARP bank bailout funds by instituting a fee on the largest banks that participated in the program. Obama outlined this plan during the State of the Union and was greeted with no--I repeat no--Republican applause. As the Republicans sat on their hands, a populist opening suddenly appeared for Democrats.

3. The Republican's "shadow" budget. Last week, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) unveiled a Republican budget proposal--essentially what the federal budget proposal would resemble if the Republicans were in power. The offering of a shadow budget is routine in parliamentary systems, such as Britain, but typically useless in the American system. But what may be useless for actual governance is a coup for Democrats. Ryan's budget includes draconian cuts in Social Security and Medicare--eventually privatizing those programs altogether--as well as other cuts to federal social programs and regulatory agencies. The plan also cuts taxes on the wealthiest Americans, further reducing the tax burden for the most well-off.

As has been suggested elsewhere, Democrats should force a vote on Ryan's most controversial budget proposals, primarily cutting Social Security. And it looks as if the Democrats might do just that. During the ongoing health care debate, Republicans effectively scared seniors into believing that major cuts to Medicare were on the way--including the creation of government "death panels." As I've noted elsewhere, despite the patently falseness of these claims, the narrative was irreversibly altered throughout the summer and fall. Now it's time for Democrats to call Republicans out on their bluff. After all, it was Republicans who fought for Medicare cuts in the 1990s and attempted to privatize Social Security--unsuccessfully due to united Democrat opposition--in 2005. Call their bluff.

4. Citizen's United Supreme Court decision. As I've noted in a previous post, this could be a major wedge issue for Democrats, if utilized. Read more here.

5. Senate procedural rules. The extent to which the filibuster has been used and politicized in the 110th Congress is unprecedented. (See here and here). A small, disciplined, minority has been able to significantly slow legislation, block executive nominees, and effectively require a 60 vote super majority on all major legislation. If Senate procedural rules were better understood by the public at large, this would be politically bad for Republicans. The problem is, the vast majority of people have very little knowledge of what the filibuster is and even how many votes are required to break a filibuster. And who can blame them! But because of the lack of public understanding of the procedure, Republicans have been able to use the filibuster as an effective minority political tool to not only prevent the majority from governing, but also to paint the Democrats as ineffective legislators. The end result is twofold: (1) the outcome of the prior two national elections--2006 and 2008--where Democrats won large majorities in both houses of Congress and the Presidency, were rendered near moot; (2) the public grows impatient with Democratic ineffectiveness and votes the incumbents out of office.

This strategy has been working very well for Republicans. They are allowed to effectively block most legislation without having to commit anything but vague talking points as an alternative. Democrats, in response, should work to reform the filibuster--either eliminating it outright or reducing the number of votes needed to break a filibuster. They should also require Republicans to literally stand on the Senate floor and filibuster. The idea of the filibuster in the public mind is that of an act of contrition: which side has the most endurance to continuously debate the issue on the Senate floor, on live C-SPAN. The filibuster, however, has evolved into a tool the minority uses to force a cloture vote--requiring a 60 vote majority--on nearly every piece of legislation and executive nominee. No one actually filibusters in the traditional, intended, sense!

6. Association with extreme Tea Party movement. And finally, the so-called Tea Party movement that has engulfed the GOP is a widely popular movement among right-wingers, but is hardly a symbol of moderation, progress, and tolerance to the mainstream observer. Democrats should tie the official Republican Party to the Tea Partiers in the public mind. Of course, the Republicans may do this on their own as the need for Tea Party approval becomes crucial for primary races.

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Positioning themselves as the defenders of working and middle-class interests, while effectively differentiating themselves from the Republicans, will be an important political goal for Democrats this year. In addition to the above "wedge" issues, Democrats must also successfully pass comprehensive health care reform, as not passing reform will be political suicide, as I have mentioned in the past and as recent polling shows is still very popular.