Since November’s elections, there has been no shortage of criticism levied at the Democratic Party. Whether directed at the electoral strategy of the Biden-turned-Harris campaign or party politics, there is plenty to complain about.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that just 40% of Democratic voters approve of congressional Democrats’ job performance, compared to 75% this time last year. Despite this nosedive in support, the leadership of the party seems content to say, “steady as she goes.”
In 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama popularized the phrase “when they go low, we go high.” While I will agree that sentiment is virtuous, I would argue it illustrates a weakness that is killing the Democratic Party.
Politics are messy. Whether it is scandals, mudslinging or just the regular day-to-day back-and-forth between political rivals, no one leaves Washington unscathed. Republicans have seen this, proudly covered their face in the filth and readied themselves to fight in the dirt.
Democrats, meanwhile, sit off to the side, talking about how disgusting the Republicans are and how they could not and should not get down on their level. How outside the norm such actions are and how they wouldn’t want to get mud all over their freshly starched shirts.
A few weeks ago, Senate Democrats were confronted with a choice: allow a budget bill to pass that would give Donald Trump additional power to slash federal programs or use their leverage to threaten a government shutdown to force Republicans to the negotiating table.
House Democrats voted unanimously against the bill, showing a united front against Trump’s attempts at dismantling the federal government. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer initially echoed this stance, spending most of the week criticizing it as a power grab by the GOP and telling Republicans they did not have the Democratic votes.
But as usual, he folded. As the shutdown approached, Schumer switched his tune and voted to move the bill forward. The GOP got their spending bill, and Democrats got nothing.
The switcheroo justifiably caused uproar among Schumer’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate and the House Democratic caucus. Even Nancy Pelosi, a longtime ally of Schumer, called his refusal to fight unacceptable.
Schumer voted against the bill during the final vote, but its passage only required a simple majority compared to the earlier 60-vote cloture motion.
It was a purely symbolic act of opposition. Unfortunately, that represents the current state of the Democratic Party. A spineless, ineffectual, and pushover opposition that feigns fighting back against Trump’s overreach, but which falls apart at the slightest pressure. A party that wags their finger at fascists, but won’t vote against their own destruction.
The Democratic Party needs real leadership that is not afraid to put up actual opposition, and Schumer is not up to the task.
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