Kickin' Some Donkey Ass

Printed on: Thu, Jun 14, 2007

Democrats need to grow a backbone

By Kelvin Wade

The world's oldest political party, the Democratic Party, has been represented in cartoons and posters by a donkey ever since Thomas Nast's political cartoons of the 1870s. Although some say the symbol was born in 1828 during Andrew Jackson's run for president. Opponents referred to Jackson as a "jackass." Regardless, today's Democratic Party doesn't deserve the donkey symbol. Donkeys have spines.

Say what you want about the national Republican Party, but you can't say they're not committed. And I might even think they should be committed for some of the things they espouse, but at least they fight for their beliefs.

In December 1998, after the GOP lost half a dozen House seats in an election where they were expected to pick up seats, the Republicans had to decide whether to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. A Gallup Poll showed that 59 percent of Americans opposed impeachment. Those zealots impeached the president and sat back dumbfounded as his approval rating rose 10 points to 73 percent after impeachment.

I'm not saying impeachment was a good thing. It was a partisan hatchet job that obviously the public saw through. But what impressed me was that the Republicans having been chastised at the polls that November, with all the numbers against them, went ahead and followed through with their agenda.

Fast forward to 2007. The Democrats control Congress, having taken it back the year before on a wave of anti-war, anti-corruption sentiment. Last month, they sent a military spending bill to President Bush that included a timeline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Bush vetoed the bill.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll following the veto showed 57 percent of Americans wanted Congress to send another bill with a timeline to the president. With the war as unpopular as ever and the public backing their play, the Democrats crumbled like last year's Raiders offensive line. They sent a bill with no timeline, curtsied and got out of the president's way.

That's a big difference between the Democrats and Republicans. The GOP will doggedly fight for their agenda no matter how unpopular or wrongheaded it is. The Democrats have the wind at their back and hit the panic button.

It's not just Iraq. Democrats ran on ridding Congress of earmarks, the pork stuffing procedure that Republicans used to fatten up spending bills and spend us into huge deficits. The Democrats earmark their pork through a procedure called "phonemarking," calling up agencies and ensuring funds are spent this way or that way. They've also simply moved the earmarking game to the end of the legislative process, preferring to squeeze in pork during conference committees.

What about lobbying reform? The Democrats took over and had second thoughts about slowing down the gravy train. Why would they want to give up the lavish parties thrown by lobbyists now that they're the ones in power?

It's no surprise that recent polls have found Congressional approval ratings at a 12-year low. Congress' approval rating is even below President Bush's, a feat only previously achieved by Vice President Dick Cheney.

When I left the Democratic Party years ago, it was over the fact that the party seemed out of the mainstream and there was the nagging suspicion that the party no longer believed in anything. Their rallying cry was simply, "We're not the Republicans!" That's not enough.

It's still better to have divided government at this point. We have a better chance at moderate legislation. The nation sorely needed a Congress that would fulfill its Constitutional duty as a check on the Executive Branch.

But I can't blame people who think, "Meet the new boss . . . same as the old boss."