HARRY REID, THE LAMEST DUCK, EVER
WALL STREET JOURNAL
NOVEMBER 25, 2010
The Lamest Duck, Ever
Harry Reid’s midterm strategy was a bust, and Democrats are now dealing with the consequences.
By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
Not so long ago, the great fear was that the Democratic Party would return from its midterm drubbing to jam all manner of odious legislation through a lame duck session of Congress. We may need to put that in the “wasted worry” category.
This year’s post-election congressional session is shaping up as one of the lamest turkeys ever. If Democrats leave town with few or no final victories to tout—if they fail even to protect Americans from tax hikes—they can thank their Senate majority leader, Harry Reid. It was Mr. Reid’s flawed pre-election strategy that landed his party with this undercooked fowl, and his post-election floundering has even his own members worried.
You wouldn’t know this from listening to Mr. Reid, who has laid out a lame-duck agenda that bears no connection to time, reality or election results. According to the Nevadan, Senate Democrats are going to confirm judges, rewrite immigration law, extend unemployment insurance, fix the issue of gays in the military, reorganize the FDA, forestall tax hikes, re-fund the government, and ratify a nuclear arms treaty—all in two, maybe three, weeks. This is the same institution that needs a month to rename a post office.
This legislative pileup is what happens when a majority leader chooses to hijack the Senate—to use it not on behalf of the country, but on behalf of a midterm campaign. The first part of Mr. Reid’s strategy was to introduce legislation specifically designed to rev up a liberal base for the midterm vote. To pep up gay rights activists, the majority leader promised legislation to change the military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. To inspire Latino midterm voters, he also embraced the Dream Act, which would offer a path to citizenship for some immigrants.
Part two of Mr. Reid’s strategy: Make sure nothing, including these highlighted bills, then passed. Much of today’s unfinished business is legislation that could have earned GOP support. But the majority leader deliberately included poison pills that would cause Republicans to balk. The entire goal was to tag Republicans with obstructionism, turning off average voters and further inspiring the base.
Harry Reid
Maybe it would have worked in a different universe. But Mr. Reid misread Earth’s political environment. Frustrated Americans didn’t punish Republicans for refusing to roll over to Democratic priorities; they rewarded them. Senate Democrats are now stuck with a crush of complex legislation, any one item of which would normally take weeks to pass. Mr. Reid meanwhile raised the stakes with liberal groups, promising bills that will also prove that much harder to pass after a midterm defeat.
Yet Democrats aren’t the only ones who may pay for Mr. Reid’s botched tactics. So focused was his party on health care and financial regulation, and so determined was Mr. Reid to tar Republicans, that urgent national priorities were shoved aside. Democrats failed to pass a single appropriations bill, and in one week the government runs out of money. Democrats want to pass an omnibus or a continuing resolution that would lock in their high levels of spending for months; Republicans understandably want a shorter fix, so their new majority can then shape spending cuts. Congress must act to avoid a government shutdown, and that issue will dominate next week.
If that weren’t enough, come Jan. 1, America is set to be hit with extraordinary tax hikes. The pain will be immediate, as employers withhold more from workers’ paychecks. This deadline has been coming for nine years, yet Democrats still haven’t acted. Nor have they shown any sign they intend to propose a serious solution. Were President Obama to come out in favor of the most obvious and simple deal—a temporary extension of all the rates—it would undoubtedly pass.
Instead, the president is mum, and Mr. Reid is promising to return from recess to hold two votes: one on extending the rates only for those making under $250,000, and one on extending all the tax rates into perpetuity. He knows neither bill has any shot of passing. He’s still working out of the pre-election playbook, believing there is mileage in forcing Republicans to publicly vote “against” the middle class. What he’ll really be doing is putting on record how many rattled Democrats now vote with Republicans against tax hikes.
And he’s wasting time. Republicans ran against tax hikes, scored heavy gains in the midterm, and they have every reason to stick with that pledge. If Democrats, who are still in charge, fail to agree to an obvious and attainable compromise—and land Americans with tax hikes—it’s all on them, baby.
The election headlines were all about Mr. Reid’s own narrow re-election victory in Nevada. Yet as the dust settles, many in his caucus—in particular those senators vulnerable in 2012—are beginning to gripe and worry about his failed approach as majority leader. He could do his reputation, and his party, some good by proving he has the skills to negotiate a tax compromise and spending fix. The bonus? It would even be good for the country.
Write to kim@wsj.com
