Can aloof Obama unite Democrats?
WASHINGTON - As the Democrats assemble in Denver, there's an odd dissonance to the party. The star of the show is "Mr. Cool," Barack Obama, the ultra-charismatic senator who landed on the national stage as if from outer space - seemingly untouched by the usual racial and political scars - promising a new era of bipartisanship and national healing.
But the supporting cast is a collection of red-hot politicians I've come to think of as the Get-Even Gang - led by the party's congressional leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and by the strategists of its 2006 victory, Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Chuck Schumer. They made their names clawing and battling against Karl Rove's Republicans, and they are partisan politicians to the bone.
The partisanship of the congressional leadership has been a virtue for Democrats, up to a point. By being as tough and unyielding as their GOP rivals, they won back control of Congress. But they haven't done much with their majorities these past two years, beyond bashing Bush.
Which raises a question to ponder as you watch the convention this week: Will Mr. Cool be a strong enough leader to transform the Democratic-controlled Congress from a reflexive role into a force for change? Can the Get-Even Gang become the Get-Ahead Gang? Or will Obama remain the aloof, judicious ex-professor who gives a great speech, but leaves the dirty work of governing to Pelosi and Reid?
As an extra-credit assignment before this week's convention, I've been reading the recent books published by congressional leaders. And I must say, these are not works that rank with the political novels of Anthony Trollope. The titles - Pelosi's "Know Your Power" and Reid's "The Good Fight" - sound almost pugilistic. They reveal the mind-set that has made these leaders such effective partisan brawlers.
Pelosi and Reid are each throwbacks to the muscular Democratic Party of several generations ago. These old-fashioned Democrats don't just oppose Republicans; they seem to actively dislike them. Pelosi describes how, as a young woman, she refused to rent a house in San Francisco because the owner was serving in the Nixon administration. Reid is almost contemptuous in voicing his antipathy toward George W. Bush, who he says "will rank among the worst presidents - if not the worst - in the history of our country."
Pelosi and Reid rose to leadership positions during the hyperpartisan years of Republican control of Congress, and it shows. They are the people who refused to be Swift-boated, DeLay-ed, or otherwise crushed by the Republican attack machine. They attacked back, and were as vengeful as the Republicans.
Pelosi describes with relish her strategy for trouncing Bush's plan to privatize Social Security - which was to blast it mercilessly, without offering an alternative. The implicit message is that negotiation and compromise are for losers. The reality that Social Security is facing bankruptcy seems not to interest either Pelosi or Reid. Indeed, their memoirs are largely policy-free zones.
Which brings us back to Mr. Cool. He's assuming leadership of a party that was badly bruised during the era of Republican dominance, but learned to fight back. Obama is not someone you'd want at your side in a bar fight. But then, FDR and JFK weren't exactly barroom brawlers, either. They were leaders, which is different.
It's a virtue for Obama that he seems to be above the fray - so long as he shows the toughness and hands-on leadership to steer his party and the country out of what has been a dark, partisan period into something better and brighter.
© 2008, Washington Post Writers Group