I’m sorry to keep gushing over Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid all the time, but he continues to impress me more and more every day. This week, in particular, has offered sterling examples of why the Senate Dems clearly picked the right man for the job.
National Journal’s Congress Daily noted today, for example, that the caucus has been thoroughly impressed with Reid’s ability to forge Dem unity on the major issues.
Since taking the reins of the dispirited and often fractured Senate Democratic Caucus following the November elections, Minority Leader Reid has quickly moved to shore up his control over the party and put in place a level of discipline and unity that has rarely been seen in recent years, Senate Democrats say.
Although Reid’s tenure as leader is still in its infancy, Democrats acknowledge they are pleased with his ability to avoid breakdowns within the Caucus. Reid’s efforts are similar to those used by congressional Republican leaders over the past decade to help them retain control of both chambers.
Unity’s great, but Reid has demonstrated this week, he’s doing more than just keeping the caucus together.
The Republican National Committee announced recently that it was going to “Daschle-ize” Reid — going after the Dem leader in his home state with a variety of smears and attacks. But then a funny thing happened — the Republicans hit Reid, so Reid hit the Republicans back.
“I want the boys at the White House, the girls at the White House, the men and women at the White House, everyone to understand, I haven’t lost one wink of sleep over the attack yesterday,” Reid said.
“They’re not going to frighten me. You know, they call me an obstructionist — they’re destructionists.”
He vowed to work for “fair, reasonable” legislation for the American people: “I’m going to continue doing that, no matter what personal attacks they make on me.”
Just as importantly, the rest of the Senate Dems seem to be doing something completely out of character — they’re sticking up for their leader.
Senate Democrats watched in dismay last autumn as their longtime leader, Thomas A. Daschle, fell to steady attacks by national Republican and conservative groups. Yesterday they said they won’t let it happen to Daschle’s successor, Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.).
Each of Reid’s 43 Democratic colleagues, plus a Democratic-leaning independent, signed a letter to President Bush, urging him to halt the “counter-productive attacks” against Reid by the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Top Democrats released the letter at a Capitol news conference, in which they fired back at the GOP for a fourth straight day.
I liked and admired Tom Daschle and thought he was a fine senator. But he never led the caucus this way. Granted, there are key differences, including the fact that Daschle came from a very “Red” state, whereas Reid comes from a swing state. Nevertheless, Daschle never showed the capacity to a) unite the caucus; b) organize and strategize this effectively; and c) fight back hard against GOP attacks the way Reid has.
It’s also worth noting that it’s hard to believe how successful Reid’s been this week in generating media attention for his outrage at GOP attacks. Up until fairly recently (say, the last three or four months), congressional Dems would get slammed by a Republican smear job, they’d say it wasn’t fair, and the media stayed largely disinterested.
But I’m amazed how much press Reid’s earned this week with his hard-charging fight against the GOP attacks. You don’t suppose this has anything to do with Reid’s new war room, do you?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I may not agree with Reid on every issue, but I think he’s the best Senate Dem leader since LBJ.