Give people what they want
The 110th Congress that convenes this week has an easy act to follow. The 109th barely showed up, completing only two of the 11 bills that fund the federal government and working fewer days than the notorious “do-nothing” Congress of 1948. Half the voters surveyed by the Pew Research Center called the outgoing Congress “less successful” than usual. Only 7 percent called it more successful.
Will the new Congress, the first controlled by Democrats in 12 years, turn those numbers around? There are some small signs of hope, with leaders in both parties feeling compelled to denounce the partisan gunfire that has riddled the capital in recent years. President Bush got it right when he told The Washington Post: “I view the elections as an opportunity to say to all of us in Washington, ‘Let’s work together.’ People want that.”
Whether it happens depends on the answers to three large questions.
ONE: How do both sides calculate their political self-interest? During his first year in office, Bush and his congressional allies worked with Democrats on key issues like taxes and education. Since then, Republican leaders have ignored and abused the Democrats, particularly in the House.
This legislative strategy was reinforced by the White House political strategy: at all costs, keep the conservative base of the party happy. Elections are won, went this thinking, by polarizing the country along doctrinal lines, not by appealing to the moderate middle.
But a new year could bring new thinking. The president is not running again. Any legislative accomplishments will depend on Democratic lawmakers, not Republican hardliners.
TWO: Can Democrats and Republicans agree on a substantive agenda? The answer is a tentative yes. The president has already indicated approval of a top Democratic priority, increasing the minimum wage.
On immigration, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is already drafting a proposal containing one of the president’s strong priorities, a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers already in this country. Both parties are eager to court Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing minority, and while the president faces sharp opposition from his party’s xenophobic fringe, the outlines of a compromise are clearly visible.
Another area of bipartisan agreement: more federal funding for stem cell research. The president used his only veto to reject a similar proposal in the last Congress, but Americans favor the idea by almost 2 to 1, and here, too, the president might be tempted to “work together” with Democrats instead of simply pandering to his most conservative backers.
THREE: Can Democrats and Republicans recover a sense of mutual trust? After Gerald Ford died, eulogists focused on his brief time as president, but we remember fondly his many years as the House Republican leader. During much of that time, Cokie’s father, Hale Boggs, was in the Democratic leadership, and whenever Ford saw Cokie, he would remind her of their relationship.
Your Dad and I would get in a cab together on Capitol Hill, he would say, and go downtown to a meeting at some place like the National Press Club. When we got there, we’d disagree — often strongly — on substantive issues. But when it was over, we’d get back in a cab and be best friends again.
George Bush could honor Gerald Ford’s legacy by remembering, and resurrecting, the days when Democrats and Republicans actually rode in cabs together. And liked each other. The American people do want that.
Steve and Cokie Roberts can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected].