Democrats Search For A Strategy

While publicly praising President Bush for his efforts to "change the discourse" in Washington and "reach across party lines," Democrats are having a hard time coming up with a plan for dealing with his policy proposals.

The Democrats "have no catch-all strategy," Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told CBSNews.com.

"It's hard, with a new president who starts out smoothly, to have a coherent strategy," Ornstein said. This lack of direction is illustrated by how the Democrats have dealt with Mr. Bush over the last couple of weeks.

Last weekend, Mr. Bush spent time speaking to House and Senate Democrats, and the initial reaction was positive.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, expressed optimism saying, "We're going to break out of the box that we're in and the polarization we've experienced. ... I think we are going to be overwhelmingly unified."

Earlier this week, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., the new head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, said about the president: "I don't think criticizing him personally and fighting him is the way to go."

But while Democratic leaders have talked about unity, they've also frequently steered clear of civility.

Newly elected Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe was unabashed in his criticism of the other side. During his acceptance speech last weekend, with Daschle and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., in attendance, McAuliffe focused on how Al Gore won the popular vote.

"We won that election, because the country is with us, not with
them," McAuliffe said. "Not for spending the whole surplus on tax cuts for the rich. Not for repealing Roe v. Wade. Not for vouchers. ... They're not for John Ashcroft. And for gosh sake they're not for refighting the civil war."

The debate over Ashcroft's nomination for attorney general is another case where Democrats were less than civil.

"He's the wrong choice to be attorney general of the United States," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who led the Ashcroft opposition in the Senate.

"John Ashcroft has shown a pattern of insensitivity throughout his career," said Daschle, who days later claimed that the Democrats and Mr. Bush will eventually be "unified."

Ultimately, eight Democrats backed off, breaking ranks and voting for Ashcroft, who was approved 58-42.

Early indications are that Mr. Bush's tax-cut proposal, which he sent to Congress on Thursday, might be the issue where the Democrats finally make their stand.

Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, one of the Democrats who backed Ashcroft, has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the president's $1.6 trillion tax-cut plan.

Conrad, the Senate Budget Committee's ranking member, said the plan "gives the lion's share of the benefit – over 40 percent of the benefit - to the wealthiest 1 percent."
Other Democrats, avoiding the polite tone that was alluded to last weekend, have expressed their disagreement, as well. "You know, if you make over $300,000 a year, this tax cut means you get to buy a new Lexus. ... If you make $50,000 a year, you get to buy a muffler on your used car," Daschle said.

"The Bush tax cuts are biased and not fair," read an e-mail alert from House Minority Leader Gephardt's office.

However, no one knows how far the Democrats will take their opposition to the tax cut. Sarah Binder of the Brookings Institution said that it's extremely difficult to "run away from tax cuts."

Meantime, Ornstein thinks that the Democrats run the "risk of being labeled obstructionist" by opposing the president while things are moving smoothly for him.

While there has been a lot of reaction to the Ashcroft nomination and tax cuts, two other Bush proposals have received much less attention from Democrats.

Over the past couple of weeks, Mr. Bush announced his education plan and his proposal to fund faith-based organizations. Those proposals, which feature provisions that some assumed would rile liberal Democrats, haven't created as much of a stir.

The reason for this, Ornstein thinks, is that right now, as the Democrats feel out the new administration, their strategy will wind up changing "issue by issue."

In the end, Democrats will eventually come up with an approach to dealing with Mr. Bush, said Binder. When the time comes, she said, "Democrats will clearly bring up old divisions" on the issues Mr. Bush proposes.

And while the president hopes his civility effort will smooth relations with Democrats, he realizes it's going to have to be more than just talk. As he said last weekend, "Bipartisanship is going to require more than words to put forth good public policy."

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