David Broder on Voters and the Shifting Winds
I never quite know what to make of David Broder, regarded as one of the deans of Washington journalism. I've said before that if Democrats say 2+2=4, and right wing Republicans say 2+2=6, Broder is the type of moderate who will split the difference and say 2+2=5 (sometimes compromises are unavoidable but the best thinkers and the best leaders, whether moderate or not, will listen to those to the right of them and those to the left of them and those close to their own position and carefully arrive at a common sense approach that borrows the best ideas from everyone (with a few of their own) and then they go that extra step until they are able to explain their position clearly to a large audience; Lincoln and FDR were good at this).
Still, Broder has that useful quality of sticking his finger up in the air in Washington to see which way the wind is blowing. Here's what he has to say in The Washington Post:
Have let things slide out of control. In time, we'll know if that's something of an understatement. The criticism of Bush by members of his own party has been out there at least since the summer of 2002, if not earlier. The only difference between then and now are the growing number of critics in his party since 2002 and the fact that the criticism on occassion now makes page one instead of being buried deep in the news. In some ways, it's the Republican-controlled Congress, however, that has allowed things to slide out of control by repeatedly refusing to hold Bush or any member of his administration accountable except when too much media attention requires special handling, or, if that doesn't work, a sacrifice. Hence, we have the frequently negligent and unobservant Hastert, who has escaped close scrutiny for several years now, trying to save his job by blaming his staff over the handling of the Foley scandal.
The real question this November and for the next two years is whether voters understand the need to rebuild a damaged and compromised Republican Party, and the need to find Democrats who have the courage to be Democrats. Both parties have been drifting for too long and reading the polls too closely. I side with the Democrats but there's a need right now to focus more sharply on where our country needs to go.
Still, Broder has that useful quality of sticking his finger up in the air in Washington to see which way the wind is blowing. Here's what he has to say in The Washington Post:
...look at the broad question of the overall direction of the nation -- right path or wrong track. In this latest poll, by a margin of 66 percent to 32 percent, people said "wrong track." Last November the comparable numbers were 68 and 30 percent.
(snip)
What is driving public opinion is an overall impression that those in office -- meaning mainly Republicans -- have let things slide out of control and need to be relieved.
What voters may not know is that the same judgment has been reached by a significant number of people who are part of -- or close to -- the Republican majority. If I have heard it once, I have heard it a dozen times: Major Republican figures, including top officials of several past GOP administrations and Congresses, say, "We deserve to lose this election."
Have let things slide out of control. In time, we'll know if that's something of an understatement. The criticism of Bush by members of his own party has been out there at least since the summer of 2002, if not earlier. The only difference between then and now are the growing number of critics in his party since 2002 and the fact that the criticism on occassion now makes page one instead of being buried deep in the news. In some ways, it's the Republican-controlled Congress, however, that has allowed things to slide out of control by repeatedly refusing to hold Bush or any member of his administration accountable except when too much media attention requires special handling, or, if that doesn't work, a sacrifice. Hence, we have the frequently negligent and unobservant Hastert, who has escaped close scrutiny for several years now, trying to save his job by blaming his staff over the handling of the Foley scandal.
The real question this November and for the next two years is whether voters understand the need to rebuild a damaged and compromised Republican Party, and the need to find Democrats who have the courage to be Democrats. Both parties have been drifting for too long and reading the polls too closely. I side with the Democrats but there's a need right now to focus more sharply on where our country needs to go.
posted by Craig at 9:28 PM
1 Comments:
For a long time Broder left me bemused, too. His thinking and M.O. started coming into focus when Bush ran for president in 2000, and I got a lock on him a couple of years later.
Broder is guided by the people's choice. This is a democracy, the people get to decide. Ergo, if the people decide they want an intellectual runt and a bully with a bad attitude in the two highest offices in the land, there you go.
If the people decide they want a cyncical bunch of sold-out corporate errand boys and girls to run Congress like a big vending machine, so be it.
And so, not wanting to in any way mess with the mechanism, you the big time D.C. columnist proceed to report on the people's choice in terms of what they're up to and how well they're doing whatever it is they do — but always in ways that accept all that as the new norm because, after all, it's the people's choice.
Thus, if what was supposed to be a simple bill to help older folks with the cost of prescriptions turns into a rewrite of Medicare to include a colossal giveaway to the drug industry, written as law by and for the drug industry, you report it as a job well done if they actually come up with a bill and get it passed.
And if what goes on in the houses of Congress getting the bill passed is reminiscent of a classic "after the orgy" scene painted by a 15th century master, you report it as things having gotten a little out of hand maybe, but in the end the system worked.
I know what you're saying about too slavishly splitting the difference. IMHO, Broder goes way beyond that.
His column today is as close as I've seen him come to telling truth to power. And it's fitting that the power he addresses in that column isn't the GOP establishment in Washington. It's the electorate.
This is one way to be a columnist. I happen to think Keith Olbermann is performing a greater service to the country, and not just because he's firing lightning bolts at powers that be I happen to oppose politically. Olbermann really is speaking truth to power. If I read him correctly, he'd do the same to Democrats if they were screwing up everything in sight.
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