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Michael Livingston's Blog

Michael Livingston's Blog

Purple in Pennsylvania

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The Democratic strategy: More hardball and more over-the-top rhetoric

I was fascinated by the comments on my post last week about tactics used by Pennsylvania Democrats to try to keep Republican challengers off the ballot. Why, I asked, is it really necessary to bring ballot challenges against Republicans in districts where Democrats already hold overwhelming advantages? What exactly were they afraid of?

In some broad paraphrasing, the comments were a mix of “stop whining,” “the Republicans did it too,” and (more ominously) “you ain’t seen nothing yet”—that is, the Democrats are planning more and more hardball in an effort to protect their endangered hold on Congress. No one seemed to deny what was happening, or that it was directed from above.

So what exactly gives here, and where will it lead?

I think what’s happening is that the Democrats, having already lost all or much of the middle during the past 6-12 months, have concluded that the only way they can win is to gin up their own base with more “progressive” legislation and use whatever organizational advantages they still have to intimidate challengers and concentrate money in key races.

The Democratic Party has, in other words, essentially abandoned the “new politics” promised by President Obama in favor of a sort of Rovian (or Nixonian) politics of the left, in which opponents are tagged as enemies of progress or simply kept from running, altogether. Columns like this one by Frank Rich, which rather improbably argues that the health care debate is really about race and immigration, may be seen as part of this effort.

Will it work?

It might—for a while. Midterm elections tend to have low turnout, and ginning up one’s base, while intimidating opponents, is sometimes a good short-term strategy. But it tends to catch up with you in the long run. Obama and the Democrats promised peace, a better economy, and a new political tone; they have achieved neither of the first two and made the third one worse.

Sooner or later this will count against them, and the effort to “play to the base,” coupled with bush-league political tactics, is unlikely to change this.

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March 30, 2010 at 11:28 am

--Michael Livingston

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  1. Bruce Bailey

    Mar 30th, 2010

    Wait a second, I still don’t get it — asking that all candidates meet legal requirements is now some kind of dirty Rovian trick?

    Shouldn’t the real question be “How can the Republican party be so inept that they can’t even circulate a petition without cheating?”

  2. bill healy

    Mar 30th, 2010

    It’s not a matter of being inept, it is just thier typical arrogance. They don’t need no stinkin rules.

  3. md

    Mar 30th, 2010

    Livingston…

    Are you kidding me?!!?! “Obama and the Democrats promised peace, a better economy, and a new political tone; they have achieved neither of the first two and made the third one worse” First of all, no one promised peace, only a fool would promise something they have no control over especially in the era of terrorists on steriods. NO ONE EVER PROMISES peace. Second – “promised a better economy” – Obama actually said the road to recovery would be long and difficult given the Bush mess he inherited and lastly and most outrageously “he made the third one worse” Yes, he made people call him Hitler and Osama and he made people call African American Congressman the N word. He is a master orchestrator and I’m sure this is the sound he wants coming from the band. Please present a credible argument or do us all a favor and stop writing propagada type garbage!

  4. Where are you?

    Mar 30th, 2010

    More and more these “columns” seem of be full of nothing. It’s like you’re just trying to be contrary to be contrary or say something just to say something. Just terrible stuff.

  5. David Diano

    Mar 30th, 2010

    Michael-
    You wrote: “Why, I asked, is it really necessary to bring ballot challenges against Republicans in districts where Democrats already hold overwhelming advantages?”

    Then you must have no problem with the challenge by Lentz against Meehan. Not only does the GOP hold overwhelming advantages, but they have a long history of unprosecuted corruption due to lack of Dem resources and “owning” the courthouse (from the DA to the judges).

    We already have a case of a local Delco GOP judge in Aston who got caught with forged petition signatures from 2009. It seems to be a GOP epidemic.

  6. huw

    Mar 30th, 2010

    michael livingston

    Hard to take your article seriously, this is the Democratic party you’re talking about, they’re way too disorganized and divided to put into action the kind of plan you suggest. You need to put your boots on the ground – go to a few meetings etc. To anyone involved in Pa politics you appear clueless.

  7. David Diano

    Mar 30th, 2010

    huw-
    Not just to people in PA politics.

  8. Lee Levan

    Mar 30th, 2010

    md-
    Well said. I would add, in regard to the economy, that we are a far sight better off than when Obama took office. The credit markets aren’t totally frozen and the stock market (read 401) has risen significantly. Net job losses have all but disappeared and retail spending and housing are improved. As you said, it’s a long haul; but the economy inarguably is on the upswing. Promise partially accpmplished.

    As for the political tone, it takes two parties to be bipartisan. By definition, one president or one political party can’t do it alone. No rational person could have predicted that the Republicans would actually adopt – and make public at that – a political strategy of opposing and obstructing anything (no matter what it is and even if it was originally a Republican idea) that Obama and the Dems do. By choosing to elevate political advantage above the good of the country, Republicans not only have prevented bipartisanship; they have have damaged this country and the American people.

    And yet, Michael tries to sell us the opposite. More obstructionism. More deception. More irrationality.

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