After Massachusetts: Democrats Should Be Ashamed

Let me start by saying: I’m tired. Tired of seeing Democrats step on their own feet; tired of seeing them panic at the slightest hint of controversy or political challenge; tired of their half-assed commitment to their own agenda. Just…tired.

On Tuesday night, Ted Kennedy’s  Senate seat went to Scott Brown, a Republican. Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate was a joke: as The Daily Show pointed out in a characteristically biting segment, she publicly said that Red Sox legend Curt Schilling was a Yankees fan and scoffed at the prospect of “shaking hands” with voters “in the cold”; she also said that Catholics shouldn’t work in emergency rooms because they’d probably refuse to perform abortions (Massachusetts is about 40% Catholic). Coakley only made 19 campaign stops across the state since she won the primary; Brown had a whopping 66.

By any measure, Coakley was a remarkably poor candidate, and the suave, handsome, and faux-folksy Brown a good one–at least in terms of politicking. Yet Democrats in Washington seem to have immediately swallowed the argument that Coakley’s loss was a strong statement that the Democratic agenda–and particularly, health care reform–is not sitting well with voters, and that the party is in dire need of a course correction. Wait-and-see centrists–those bold leaders who always stand on the margins, poo-pooing policies and claiming that such finger-wagging amounts to true moderation–immediately claimed that “catastrophe” was imminent for Democrats everywhere.

The guy who said that was Evan Bayh, Senator from Indiana, and his comment isn’t actually that shocking. This is the guy who has a history of opposing liberal measures. But then the rest of the Senate got into the act: Barbara Boxer from California said “every state is in play,” Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL) said the election was “a wake-up call,” Kent Conrad (ND) said outright that “part of the problem is the [Democratic] agenda itself,” and Mary Landrieu (LA) said that her party was “overreaching” and “advocating [too much] government,” particularly through health care reform.

When I first read all this, I was speechless. Where is the courage? Where is the self-respect, the rudimentary understanding of leadership? Where is the commitment and conviction? Three days ago health care reform was utterly vital and necessary, and today it’s suddenly a bad idea for the country because a sad-sack candidate got trounced. Well, I have news for you: Massachusetts is the last state one should use as a bellweather for national sentiment when it comes to this health care plan. The state already has many of the aspects of Congress’ bill in place at the state level, meaning that for Massachusetts voters, national health care reform means higher taxes with little benefit. Is it really so shocking that the people who already have health care aren’t crazy about paying more in the midst of a deep recession in order to get it for someone else? (In fact, Brown outright discussed how unfair it was that his state would “be basically paying for our plan, and then we’re going to be subsidizing Nebraska and Louisiana,” sarcastically calling that set-up “a real bargain.”) This is not the same thing as all American voters collectively giving health care reform the finger! So why are the Democrats immediately doubting the fundamental tenets of their political agenda? It’s utterly disgraceful. The Right deserves to have a field day with Democratic leadership on this one: they’ve been acting precisely like the lily-livered, perennially ambivalent pansies that conservatives always try to paint them as being.

And, of course, there’s health care reform. The Senate is going to wait until after Brown takes office to proceed on the issue, as opposed to ramming the Senate version of the bill through and then forcing it on the House before Brown officially enters the picture. On the one hand, this is a mature, civil decision, as is Obama’s insistence that Brown and Republicans become an active part of the health care reform process. On the other hand, this reeks of precisely the sort of accommodative move that’s so frustrating: if the Democrats were better disciplined, more ideologically consistent, and bolder in their commitment to issues (all of which, I must admit, describe conservative leaders) then ramming health care reform through ASAP would have been Option #1. It would have been ugly, but the American people would not have cared so long as the results of passing reform were beneficial. Seriously, can you name the precise Congressional maneuvering that went behind a policy–any policy–over the past few years? Probably not, at least not at the level of detail that you’d need for it to serve as some sort of warning sign for Democrats.

But no. What we’re likely going to get is a “a simpler, less ambitious” bill that will likely have more Republican support (I think something is going to pass: even Democrats aren’t dumb enough to let an initiative this significant and high-profile tank after it’s received so much time, energy, and attention…I hope). I’ll try to be patient and not say outright that this new bill is sure to be worse than what’s currently being considered; but the fact is that Republicans have very little incentive to chip in, particularly since the new post-Massachusetts narrative is all about the pay-off of opposing health care reform. I’m not expecting a miracle.

But still, in the end, my feelings about recent developments are less concerned with the policy specifics and Congressional math around health care reform (again, because I don’t think it’s dead) than they are the fundamental leadership deficit in the Democratic Party. I’m an Obama fan; but from day one I thought that his message of compromise at any cost and unity was good for the country’s spirits, but perhaps too amicable for the reality of party politics–at least when it came to pushing through the policy priorities that I value the most. Think about it: if health care reform had been the #1 item on the Republican agenda while George W. Bush was President, we’d have had it in place already. Sure, there would have been a lot of irate politicos and bloggers talking trash since the process would have probably been incredibly shady and violently acrimonious; but the right heads would have been cracked to make sure that health care went through. But today’s Dems seem more concerned with procedure than outcome.

At this point, I just don’t know what to say. It’s incredibly frustrating. Brown’s win (along with today’s Supreme Court decision to let corporations and organizations spend freely in elections) makes for a powerful gust of wind in the conservative sails, and a lot of that momentum comes from the fact that Democrats are talking up the storm–and questioning their principles–all by themselves.

Man, I’m tired.