The Achievements of the Democratic Congress

Anger Mismanagement

Congress discovers there's not much gain in Bush hatred.
BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
Friday, July 6, 2007 12:01 a.m.

School is out, report cards are in. How fares the new Democratic Congress? Even with grade inflation, it's struggling to hit a gentleman's C.

The big question when Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the House was whether her party was up to the task of governing. Democrats wisely turned last year's election into a referendum on Republican competence. It was a shrewd strategy, though left unanswered was how they would use their new power. Could Ms. Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid keep the party's angry liberal wing in check? Did Democrats have a big agenda around which they could rally?

Six months on, the country isn't much impressed. Congress's approval rating is drifting into the netherworld, having sunk to an average of 25%. One recent Gallup poll reported only 14% of Americans profess confidence in that institution, now run by Democrats. The numbers make even President Bush look good, an extraordinary achievement.

A half-year isn't usually a fair measure of a party's abilities, but then again, Dems have set themselves a high bar. Their goal, by the end of next year, is to have increased their majorities in both the House and Senate, as well as captured the White House. That's an uphill climb in any political climate, harder still given today's skeptical and unsettled electorate. Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid can't afford dawdling or division, not if they want to make a mark with voters.

Both leaders seemed to understand--at least in the beginning--that few things were more important than showing voters the party had a plan, and that it could get that plan passed. This philosophy was behind the "Six for '06," an agenda that was purposely small (minimum wage, college scholarships), so as to garner support from all party wings. Ms. Pelosi's first "100 hours" were then run with military precision, as she systematically passed items with unanimous support from her party, and Republican votes to boot. It was an impressive showing.

Then, with the first 100 hours done and gone, by mid-January the Democratic Party proceeded to fall apart. The crumbling has progressed along predictable lines.

For starters, the leaders have failed to keep the Bush-hating left under wraps. This crowd isn't nearly as interested in passing legislation as it is flooding the Beltway with subpoenas. By one count, the new Democratic Congress has held over 600 oversight hearings since assuming power. Given the Senate has only been in session 100 days (the House, 92 days), that works out to six hearings per day, or one every 1.5 hours. The bashing covers everything from wiretapping to President Bush's global warming science.

The events are primarily cathartic, designed to allow the base to work out its Bush anger. Yet many Democrats have also convinced themselves the hearings are smart politics--that the way to increase their congressional majorities next year is to further paint Republicans as corrupt and incompetent--and point to Mr. Bush's approval ratings as evidence it is working. Democrats' own (lower) approval ratings suggest voters have limited tolerance for such partisanship and would prefer to see the party implementing the "new direction" it promised in its campaign.

Yet even when the majority has found time to legislate, it has again perilously allowed its liberal wing to lead it astray. Instead of focusing on completing their "Six for '06" priorities, Democrats instead engaged in a long fight with the president over the war supplemental. This bloodletting pleased the MoveOn.org faction, but was a defeat for the broader party, which ultimately gave Mr. Bush all the money he'd demanded, with nary a timetable or withdrawal in sight.

"Six for '06" has similarly been crowded out by politically unpopular bills designed to reward left-leaning, special interest lobbies. The AFL-CIO's demand for a vote over "card check" never had a chance of passing the Senate, but did put Democrats on the record as opposing secret ballots in union elections (a position with which some 90% of Americans disagree). This fruitless dues-paying has taken time, and by the end of Democrats' first 100 days in office, Republicans were able to crow that of the 17 minor bills signed into law, 10 focused on naming post offices and courthouses.

Much of the ideological agenda is being driven by the party's old Great Society bulls, powerful House committee heads such as Henry Waxman, Pete Stark and John Conyers. Ms. Pelosi has largely let them run wild, inviting embarrassment. Appropriations czar David Obey managed to single-handedly undercut most of his party's promises about earmark transparency, and only after Democrats had been slammed by most major newspapers in the country did someone at the top reel Mr. Obey back in.

The leftish bent has put on public display the party's disunity. Two recent examples: Democrats promised to fix the alternative minimum tax, which will soon hike the taxes of millions of middle-class Americans. The fixing task fell to House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, who several weeks ago reverted to type and floated the idea of paying for his "reform" with a tax hike on higher-income earners. The Blue Dog coalition revolted, refusing to sign on to a bill that branded them tax-hike liberals.

Ms. Pelosi similarly promised earlier this year to produce an energy bill to make America "energy independent" by "Independence Day." The Fourth of July came and went, though what's left of Ms. Pelosi's energy bill is still mired in the House. She and fellow liberals refused to go along with those in her party who wanted a more flexible hike that would do less harm to Detroit.

The ideological back and forth has even caused Democrats to miss out on a proud signing ceremony or two. They easily had the Republican votes to pass a minimum wage hike, yet Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi instead allowed the party to engage in a food fight over a related tax-break package (liberals didn't want a "giveaway" to business). Desperate to get it done, the leaders ultimately stuffed the provision into the supplemental, where it was overshadowed and forgotten.

Democrats still have a little more than a year to prove their worth. The lesson of the past six months is that Americans want a mature party that leads, not angry liberals who investigate.