Senator's call to censure Bush a political ploy
From Where I Sit
Bradley Hart |
WE’RE MORE THAN seven months from the midterm elections that will determine control of the legislative branch of government for the final two years of President Bush’s administration yet we’re already seeing the start of election campaigning.
Last week, Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) made headlines by calling on Congress to censure President Bush over wiretaps without warrants — an issue his party has largely failed to exploit politically.
The reactions to Feingold’s call for censure were swift from both sides of the political spectrum.
Republicans predictably denounced the remarks almost immediately, with Majority Leader Bill Frist claiming that attacking the commander-in-chief in a time of war doesn’t make sense.
Some Democrats, particularly those on the left-leaning blogs, loudly applauded the move. Others ran from the motion as quickly as they could.
Left-leaning political columnist Eleanor Clift penned a column entitled “Russ Feingold tosses GOP a life raft” in which she denounced the resolution as thoroughly as any Republican, stating Democrats must have a “death wish.” With friends like that, who needs enemies?
I actually agree with Clift and other commentators who say Feingold’s motion to censure is going exactly nowhere. A Republican-led Congress is about as likely to censure a Republican president as it is to invite Bill Clinton to breakfast with the President and majority leader.
Yet Feingold’s resolution wasn’t really about censure – it was about the upcoming elections.
Many Democrats, probably including Feingold, are feeling the wind at their backs with public opinion polls showing declining ratings for President Bush (37 percent approval in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey) and a general consensus that they’ll pick up seats.
According to Clift, Democratic insiders say if the elections were held today they’d pick up between 18 and 23 seats in the House. A gain of just 15 is required for a Democratic majority. Of course, things could change drastically in coming months for better or worse, depending on which side you’re rooting for.
More than anything else, the idea of censuring the president is a reflection of the increasing vulnerability of the White House.
Thanks to the ongoing conflict in Iraq, the Plame affair and the Abramoff scandal, the White House has taken a beating in public opinion polls and in outright political influence for the past year or so.
If you doubt this, simply look at the status of the President’s legislative agenda for his second term. The much-touted Social Security reform of the 2004 campaign cycle is all but dead, with few Republicans even talking about the plan these days. Yet Democrats are going to need more than just declining poll numbers for Republicans to pull out a win this fall.
Keep in mind that presidential adviser and election guru Karl Rove has already showed his electoral cards — and they all say “national security.” Republicans will almost assuredly accuse Democrats of being soft on defense and terrorism.
Democrats shouldn’t obsess about this designation. The people who buy Rove’s vision of America won’t be voting Democratic anyway. If Democrats pick up any votes they’ll be from people who are disappointed in the Bush Administration’s policies.
Instead, the Democrats need to put together a set of coherent and understandable policies so voters immediately know what they’re getting when they go to the polls.
Regardless of whether they agree with every part of the Democratic agenda, voters will at least know where the party stands.
Perhaps the most important issue to take a stand on is the war in Iraq.
Democrats need not call for a full and immediate pullout from the country but they do need to come up with a policy — any policy — that makes sense and differs from the President’s “wait and see” approach.
The vast majority of Americans, including 70 percent of Republicans, now believe civil war has already begun or will break out in Iraq, according to a new Associated Press survey. The American people are looking for a new approach, and Democrats should try to meet this desire to reap electoral rewards.
On Tuesday, President Bush told reporters the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the country will fall with a future president, implying that American involvement will continue through 2008 if the Administration has its way.
It’s up to Democrats to present an alternative to this vision. Voters will reward them if they do.
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