Frustrating Times
The Wall Street Journal points out that Democrats are feeling frustrated - and that voters are becoming frustrated with them.
WASHINGTON — The way in which Senate Democrats wavered and then consented to the confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general reflects the party's broader struggle to make headway on its national-security agenda, despite President Bush's unpopularity.
On questions such as Mr. Mukasey's stance on waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the war in Iraq, Democrats have been stymied by Republicans in Congress and the White House. That has sparked frustration among supporters, especially those on the left, who anticipated that last year's congressional takeover would force some policy changes.
These dashed expectations are one reason polls give Congress an approval rating lower than Mr. Bush's. The difficulties faced by Democrats on these issues look certain to complicate the party's bid to expand House and Senate majorities and regain the White House in 2008, a wartime election in which national security will be a major issue.
Democrats acknowledge the difficulty in speaking up for civil liberties while maintaining a tough stand on homeland security and terrorism.
"On issues of wiretapping or torture or any of the other tools used to fight terrorism, it's a complicated message to sell," says Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic strategist in Washington who worked on John Kerry's presidential campaign. She says Democrats in Congress and their supporters have "faced a bit of an awakening that they're not getting everything they wanted."
On Friday, two senior Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California, rescued President Bush's pick to lead the Justice Department when they announced their plan to vote for his confirmation when it comes up for a vote tomorrow.
While the left may be frustrated with Democrats over all that, I suspect something else is at work with the unaligned voters in the center. They are watching a group of politicians who are failing to deliver on many things, including cleaning things up in Congress. They are seeing the same pork laden spending and they are seeing tax increases and the threat of enormous new taxes in the near future. They are not happy with what they are seeing. They are seeing the Democrats in control of Congress try over and over again to sneak amnesty for illegal immigrants through and they really do not like that.
The Democrats wailed that Iraq was lost but the recent good news makes them look bad to the average voter. After the 2006 elections I said that the voters did not give the Democrats a mandate to lose a war, but they went right ahead and tried anyway. The voters have been vehemently opposed to amnesty and firmly in favor of closing the borders. The Democrats simply ignored the public and tried to slide the DREAM act through.
This is going to have real repercussions in 2008. I rather suspect that the conventional wisdom is going to look pretty unwise in a year.
By Angevin13, Monday, 5 November , 2007 @ 6:35 pm
Will it cause the far-left anti-war faction to abandon the Democrats?