Not So Lame Duck

After the results of the mid-term elections had been recorded, the 111th Congress seemed poised for a stalemate. Republicans were swaggering about, drunk on election results that saw them gain six seats in the Senate and control of the House of Representatives. Democrats, on the other hand, were licking their wounds; reeling from what President Barack Obama called a shellacking, and pointing fingers at each other.

Now that the 111th Congress has ended, one might wonder if, in some demented way, the rise of the Republicans will prove good for America. Power concentrated in the hands of a few is deadly. When those powerful few are intoxicated with arrogance and their own sense of self-importance it can be devastating. We need only look at the results of the 1994 mid-term elections when the Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, took over the House of Representatives then quickly acted with utter disregard for what was in the best interest of the country. Arrogance led Gingrich and company to assume that they could do as they wished, including shutting down the Federal Government. It backfired on them.

It appeared that the Democrats, after they took control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives in the 111th Congress, had not learned any lessons from the Gingrich years. Party leaders acted with impunity, ignoring the seeds of discontent being sowed throughout the country. Democrats argued among themselves, seeking not to lead, but rather to dictate through extremes. As a liberal, I am more than elated that we have a national health-care plan. I am also overjoyed with many of the other legislative initiatives enacted in the last two years. Yet I am also disappointed that others were not completed – a revamping and strengthening of No Child Left Behind, for example – and that some of those initiatives that I cherish were set in motion through arrogance and a disregard for debate.

Democratic control of the 111th Congress reminded me of a conversation I had with a white postal worker in New York City after the 1993 election of Rudolph Giuliani as mayor.

"It's our time," the white postal worker proclaimed. "Now we're in control."

His statement carried the threat of revenge, a sense that it was time for white New York to lash back at the liberal agenda New York City had experienced. Enough with that liberal agenda and its leader, David N. Dinkins, the city's first black mayor, the postal worker argued as we continued to talk. White men had regained their rightful place in New York and they were ready to serve up retribution, he appeared to be saying. In his voice, and in the actions of many, there was a sense of entitlement and self-importance, a sense that now he and his put upon friends could finally put the city's minority population back in its place.

The comments that followed the 2010 mid-term elections carried the same threat. After two years of refusing to work with the current administration in an effort to win back Congress and make Obama a one term president, Republicans swore to continue their march, blocking all legislative action until they got what they wanted – a continuation of the tax cut for the wealthy. They did, indeed, receive what they sought. But at what price?

After the initial bellowing and grandstanding, several Republicans finally stood up and did the right things. The results were not totally to my liking, just as I am sure they were not to yours. But for the first time in many years, Washington seemed to at least be moving toward solutions to the problems that plague us as a nation.

Of course, this is not to absolve the far right of the Republican Party. They were obstructionists for the last two years, and they will seek to be obstructionists for the next two. Nor is it meant to coddle the far left of the Democratic Party, for many of them acted with the same arrogance as Gingrich's GOP majority.

At least, for a few days, we can bask in the sense of accomplishment that permeated Washington for the last few weeks. In doing so, we cannot forget that the afterglow of the lame-duck session of the 111th Congress was created by cross-aisle communication. And with a new year approaching, we should pray that leveler heads will prevail and more legislators will have the gumption to stand up, reach out to their counterparts and say, "Let's fix what we has been broken for too long."

Time for Backbone and Vision

Are there any Democrats with backbone in this country, any willing to present a vision for America and then fight vigorously to realize it? In 2008 it seemed Barack Obama was such a Democrat, but since taking office he has appeared to have turned against his own vision as if it was a nightmare. Obama the presidential candidate painted a picture of an America where discourse would be common and people would seek to work for the better of society, refusing to give in to the pettiness of partisan politics and racial bigotry.

It hasn’t happened, and not simply because Republicans have fought as hard as hell to keep it from happening. It hasn’t occurred because Obama and his band of professional politicians have not had the gumption to make it happen. Yes, the GOP and its Tea Party minions have worked hard to distort the issues and distract the voters. They have taken attack politics and fear mongering to a new level. But too often the problems Democrats face have more to do with their ineptitude than with the opposition’s strengths. Democrats are too quick to step back from their convictions for fear of offending voters in the midterm elections. They are campaigning not to lose, rather than fighting to win.

For example, President Obama rightfully stood before a group of Muslims and non-Muslims in the White House and proclaimed that the people seeking to build an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan have the right to do so. He cited the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion. The next day, after being criticized for being out of touch with what most Americans feel, the President stepped back, saying that while he said Muslims had a right to worship, he did not necessarily say they had the right to build in Lower Manhattan. The President should have stuck by his earlier statement. More important, he should have been more emphatic in his support when the subject came up again.

Instead, his vacillation has led to such people as Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader and a Democrat facing a difficult re-election fight in Nevada, to attack the building of the Lower Manhattan mosque. “The First Amendment protects freedom of religion,” The New York Times quoted Jim Manley, a top adviser to Reid, as saying on Monday. “Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else.”

Reid and other Democrats reacted because Republican House and Senate candidates have challenged them on what is a singularly local issue. What is built in Lower Manhattan is a New York City, not a state or Federal issue. If Republicans and Democrats want to debate whether mosque should be built in the United States then let’s bring in the battles in Tennessee and California, where Muslims are facing opposition though they are not trying to build near “hallowed” ground. The battle is not about hallowed ground. It is about stirring up anti-Islamic fervor.

“Ground zero is hallowed ground to Americans,” said Elliott Maynard, a Republican running for Congress in Virginia. “Do you think the Muslims would allow a Jewish temple or Christian church to be built in Mecca?”

Newt Gingrich was no better. “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington,” Gingrich said on Monday. “We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.”

The Democrats have accused the Republicans of exploiting the Sept. 11 terror attacks, telling voters that the GOP is more concerned about the symbolism of a mosque in Lower Manhattan that it is about the people injured at ground zero. Several weeks ago, many of the same Republicans who are standing up for the memory of those injured or killed in the Trade Center attacks opposed a new medical program that would have helped emergency workers and others who were exposed to hazardous materials at ground zero.

Yet, that Democratic message isn’t strong enough. The message that needs to be sent to voters during this off-season election cycle is that the Republicans, if they win the House or Senate, will seek to attack everything – from freedom of religion to who should elect U.S. Senators to who should receive U.S. citizenship. And that would create an even more frightening nightmare than anything from our outside enemies.