Reformist Democrats have many, many reasons for believing (rightly I’d say) that time is on their side. Demographics, ideological propensity … many, many reasons. But the biggest and probably most obvious sign is the one sitting right under our noses.
That is this: on pretty much every major question of domestic policy these days you have one piece of legislation, supported largely by Democrats, and enjoying pretty broad popular support. Then on the other side you have a phony-baloney piece of legislation put forward by Republicans (more or less entirely reactive to the Democratic legislation) intended to scuttle the effort to pass the original reform. Is the Republican approach better? Sure, maybe. Would they ever have thought to propose it on their own without heat from the Dem bill? Of course not.
In most cases you’ll find some deer-caught -in-the- headlights backbench Republican Rotarian you’ve never heard of before hustled up to affix his name to the bill.
The latest example of course is in the campaign finance debate, and the new bill-killer in the House sponsored by Rep. Bob Ney (OH-R) and (regrettably) Rep. Albert Wynn (MD-D). But pretty much the same logic applies to Patients’ Bill of Rights, prescription drug benefit, and a slew of other current debates.
It didn’t used to be this way. Remember welfare reform? Nor does it mean the Democrats are right and the Republicans wrong. But it gives a clear sense of the trajectory of our politics today.
It may not be the Dems’ time. But time is on their side.
