Democrats:
Any bipartisan unity appearing in Washington since the onset of the war two weeks ago is only skin-deep. Both in the open and under the surface, partisan sniping and the toxic atmosphere on Capitol Hill persist.
1) Recently, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) attracted attention with his attack on President Bush for having failed "miserably" in diplomatic efforts leading up to the war. While Daschle tried to backpedal from those comments later in the week-after the actual bombing began-his comments helped keep alive the ugly tone on Capitol Hill.
2) Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.), as part of his presidential campaign, sounded a similar but less strident complaint. Although Kerry has supported the war with Iraq and voted for the congressional authorization of force, he called the White House's pre-war diplomacy "inept" and "self-defeating."
3) Sen. Robert Byrd (D.-W.Va.), the Senate's senior Democrat, said last Wednesday that the Iraq war is misguided. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D.), also running for President, has for months argued against an attack on Iraq and continues to withhold support.
4) At least on the parts of Daschle and Kerry, this strategy is born of a Democratic need to attack the President while he is fighting a popular war. Most Democrats feel their party lost seats in the 2002 elections because they did not draw enough of a distinction between themselves and the Republicans. It is certainly true that the Democrats were insufficient in offering alternatives, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) and Daschle seem to be operating under the assumption they suffered from not being shrill enough.
5) However, most Democrats hesitate to criticize the war itself. The attack on Iraq is popular with Americans according to most polls, even after the bloody weekend. Also, so as not to waste political capital in Washington, lawmakers want to honor the tradition of not criticizing the President's foreign policy and war measures.
6) The Democratic line of criticism often focuses on the alleged "unilateralism" of the war. Although the U.S. failed to win a second UN resolution and still faces loud opposition from France and Germany, there is nevertheless considerable international support. In essence, Democratic attacks for lack of diplomacy boil down to criticism for not getting France's and Germany's support-not a criticism bound to have much sway with voters.
7) Some Congressional Republicans, in turn, are attacking these Democratic critics for damaging the war effort. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) have said Daschle's comments went too far and gave comfort to Hussein. Democratic leaders, who have expressed unequivocal support for U.S. troops, object to these Republican counterattacks.
8) In general, the partisan rancor- most recently exacerbated by the standoff on the judicial nomination of D.C. lawyer Miguel Estrada (see below)-shows no signs of disappearing during the war.
Budget-Taxes:
Senate Democrats succeeded in slashing in half the budget allocation for the President's tax cut plans. This is a major defeat for Bush, but the fight on the budget (and tax cuts) is far from over.
1) The House has passed its budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2004, holding closely to the President's recommendations. The blueprint barely passed clearing on a 215-to-212 vote.
2) These tight votes will be fairly typical of the 108th House, with DeLay even more influential than before. DeLay sees the House's role in these sorts of debates as setting the rightmost bookend from which to begin any negotiations. Accordingly, he pushed through the most pro-tax cut, pro-military, fiscally Spartan budget he could.
3) The Senate, later this week, will pass its budget resolution-a feat it failed to accomplish last year, under Democratic control. That budget would allow for half the tax cuts in the House blueprint-a discrepancy that will need to be ironed out in conference.
4) Democrats were derailed in their first efforts to cut the budgeted tax cut in half because of some liberals who would not support even a small tax cut. The second run, coming after Bush's war supplemental was presented, succeeded because of three Republicans switching their votes. Including the tax cut in the budget is essential for any package's passage in the Senate, because budget reconciliation measures are protected from 60-vote filibusters.
5) The conference committee will be the first such bicameral negotiation in the new all-Republican Congress. With the House under increased DeLay influence and the full Senate and Senate Budget Committee both under new leadership (Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [R.-Tenn.] and Budget Chairman Don Nickles [R.-Okla.]), the negotiations (especially over the tax cut) will be watched closely as a sign of things to come.
