WASHINGTON — A news story is creeping into our major
newspapers. From there it is making its way into the broadcast
media. It is a story that bodes ill for the Democrats. Once a story
spreads like this it takes on the nature of Truth to journalists,
and they then repeat it or variations on it for a mercilessly long
time. The headline is this: “Democrats Fragmented and in Disarray.”
The story has two aspects that must trouble those Democrats who
understand media. The first aspect is that it is filled with dire
portents. Journalists are attracted to dire portents whether the
portents are true or palpably absurd. The second aspect that must
trouble Democrats is that this news story happens to be true. The
Democrats really are fragmented and in disarray.
We saw this late last month when their Joan of Arc, Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton, gave a perfectly sensible speech — at
least for her. The next day all hell broke loose, and it broke
loose against her. Hillary has been the Democrats’ leading
presidential hope since roughly 2002. In normative politics that
would be surprising because in 2001, right after the Clintons were
both being blamed for the pedaling of presidential pardons, the
trashing of the White House by the Clinton staff, and the pilfering
of White House property by the Clintons themselves, Hillary’s
approval rating had plummeted to 38%. The New York Times
was calling for congressional investigations. The New York
Observer was calling on Senator Clinton to resign.
Of course “normative” has rarely applied to the Clintons. Within
a year Madame Hillary began her weird ascent with amnesiac
Democrats, and soon she was the most popular Democratic office
holder in the country — at least with Democrats. She has remained
so. Today she is almost a shoo-in for the party’s nomination. Still
late last month she was the object of obloquy from what is being
called her party’s angry left. All that she had said, aside from
her usual denunciations of the Republicans and of the diabolical
George W. Bush, was that “It’s high time for a ceasefire. It’s time
for all Democrats to work together….Let’s start by uniting
against the hard-right ideology.”
The “hard-right ideology” is how she has persistently described
the point of view that has governed America roughly since Ronald
Reagan brought it into government in 1981. Even her husband
entertained part of it starting about the time he said, “The era of
big government is over.” One would think Hillary’s persistent
diabolizing of Republicans would appease her angry left, but it has
not. The next day the angry blogs and activist groups were at her
neck. She had been speaking at a meeting of the moderately liberal
Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). Her plea for a “ceasefire”
enraged Democrats further to the left.
“There’s been an activist resurgence in the Democratic Party in
recent years,” responded Roger Hickey, co-director of Campaign for
America’s Future — a pretty angry future it appears. And he added,
“Hillary risks ensuring that there’s a candidate to her left
appealing to those activists who don’t much like the DLC.” As the
DLC was one of the instruments through which her husband fashioned
two presidential victories, you can see that the Democrats have a
big problem. Another way of putting it is they are “fragmented and
in disarray.”
The problem for the Democrats is that their so-called liberals
have been for decades living in a fantasy of self-congratulations.
They see themselves as responsible for all that is good in America
and the hated Republicans for all that is bad. Anything that the
Republicans have done right the liberals see as bad, for instance,
cutting taxes and thus encouraging the economic growth that has
revived the country since the mid-1980s. They are smug and
ignorant, and now they are at each other’s throats. What in terms
of policy does the angry left offer, beyond abominating Republicans
and the DLC? Well, they hate Halliburton and Wal-Mart. They love
the environment and would improve the lives of whooping cranes and
rare grasses in Nebraska.
What is the American liberal? I conceive the American liberal as
a fat, florid-faced archbishop from some declining episcopacy in
New England waiting around the buffet table late in the dinner
hoping to scoop up a few extra desserts, another bon bon to put in
his pocket or her purse, an extra glass of sauterne, and to burp
when no one is within listening range. Hillary, these are your
constituents. Treat them well, or Mr. Hickey will field a candidate
to the left of you.
