I just finished reading Joshua Green’s piece in the Atlantic Monthly on the Dems to two top leaders in Congress, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. I like Green, but I’m not sure if the article made any sense.
The crux of the piece is that Dems are in a tough spot right now, but Reid and Pelosi are ill-equipped to bring the party back to its majority status.
If Pelosi and Reid are to win back Congress, they will need not only the discipline to counter Republican attacks but also the strategic ability to develop a true opposition movement — an ability nowhere evident in their biographies. And they will need to galvanize the public, not just their fellow officeholders. Here some alarm seems warranted. Put simply, Pelosi and Reid are lousy salespeople. Although Reid prides himself on rural authenticity, he comes across on television as a long-lost Smothers Brother. And for all her grandmotherly warmth, Pelosi’s peppy bursts of enthusiasm and penchant for speaking in singsong phrases — “We’ve gotta win, not whine!” — make her come across like a cheerfully energetic PTA mom rather than a party leader capable of swaying national opinion.
History suggests that the most effective opposition leaders — Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich, Lyndon Johnson — tend to be bullies who relish pool-cue-to-the-knee politics and boast tough-guy nicknames like DeLay’s “The Hammer.” Harry Reid’s nickname is “Pinky.”
Indeed, Green holds Reid and Pelosi largely, if not directly, responsible for Dem defeats at the ballot box of late, and adds, “Since the two assumed the leadership things have not gotten better for their party.”
Part of me wonders if Green and I are looking at the same people.
In the seven months since the election, the Dems’ standing has improved greatly, in part because of the leadership offered by Reid and Pelosi. The party is united, fundraising is strong, and the polls are showing increasing receptiveness to the Dems’ message about the flaws in the Republican agenda.
In the House, Pelosi has helped lead a sometimes-bickering caucus to victories over the GOP over “ethics reform,” while quietly stoking the fires of scandal surrounding her counterpart (Tom DeLay). In the Senate, Reid has run circles around his GOP counterpart (Bill Frist) on everything from Social Security to judicial nominations, while keeping disparate factions together on nearly all of the big issues. Moreover, both have made institutional changes behind the scenes — staffing moves, establishing “war rooms,” creating party initiatives to reach out to traditional GOP constituencies — that will help the party for years to come. How, exactly, have things “not gotten better”?
Leading congressional Dems is often tantamount to herding cats, and yet Reid and Pelosi have the Dems in an even stronger position than anyone could have imagined after the last election. Does Republican arrogance and overreach have something to do with this? Absolutely, but it’s hard to see where Green’s argument — that the party is worse off now, and the Dem leaders are to blame — reflects the current political landscape.
Green also argues that Reid and Pelosi are poor choices for party leadership because they’re not fiery orators who can lead their party back into the majority through a force of will. Are these two modern-day Ciceros? No. But are aggressive congressional leaders who are great salespeople necessary for success?
To answer this, consider two names — Bob Michel (R-Ill.) and Bob Dole (R-Kan.). In 1993 and 1994, Dems controlled the White House, the Senate, the House, and a majority of governor’s offices. The top two Republicans in the nation were Senate Minority Leader Dole and House Minority Leader Michel. To follow Green’s logic, these two were awful choices — they were bland and uninspiring, part of the “old guard,” and they could hardly be characterized as “revolutionaries.” If memory serves, their two years of opposition against a president of a different party worked out pretty well for them in the ’94 midterms.
Green apparently sees the job of minority leader as more of a political cheerleader/attack dog that can sell the country on the party and its agenda. I think it’s more complicated than that. Reid and Pelosi have assembled great teams and are keeping the Dems together in a way that was hard to predict the first week in November. Green seems ready give them the hook; I’m more inclined to give them applause.