Moderates Act Like Adults

Three weeks ago in this space we urged Democrats to do the responsible thing, be the adults in the room, and vote to end the government shutdown. Now, thanks to the sensible moderate Democrats in the Senate, that’s exactly what’s happening. Moreover, it’ll pay off politically for their party.

Our argument back in October was that Democrats were right to insist on a health care agreement before voting to put the government back to work. Nonetheless, the evidence was that they weren’t winning that argument by any sort of overwhelming margin (voters were blaming Republicans only slightly more) and they would get scant credit next November even if they won. Since then, a poll that came out a couple of days ago found that 35% of voters blamed Republicans, 32% blamed Democrats and 28% blamed them both. That’s hardly winning the argument going away.

In the meantime, vital services like food stamps, air traffic control and more were rapidly deteriorating. Federal government workers were starting to have trouble making ends meet and some were taking on second jobs. Tired, cranky air traffic controllers are not in the public interest.

So, it’s an odd thing to hear the hard-left, a group always eager to signal their virtue about how compassionate and kind they are, go apoplectic about the moderates voting to pay government workers and put food back on the tables of 42 million SNAP recipients.

Along these lines there’s no politician quicker to cynically exploit a situation than Gavin Newsom. The man who couldn’t resist a five star dinner at the French Laundry while he told Californians to stay home during the height of COVID, now whines that the moderates voting to feed millions of Americans are “pathetic.” This is the same guy who destroyed his party’s credibility in its fight for fair maps by pushing through a referendum allowing his state to go back to partisan gerrymandering. And he’s only done all of this to repair his standing with the party’s hard-left activist base so that he has a chance to win the presidential nomination…. and lose the 2028 general election. No matter what he does, Newsom can’t escape his hard-left past anymore than another Californian, Kamala Harris, could. First rule for Democrats in 2028: nominate nobody from California.

But the biggest loser in all of this is Chuck Schumer. Schumer is a pol very much in the mold of Joe Biden. He just wants to stay in power without having any clear strategy or consistent ideology. So, in the last shutdown fight he decided to vote to keep the government open. He got pushback from the hard-left and saw his position threatened. So, this time he decided to be “a fighter.” Now, he finds himself undercut by the moderates. He can’t keep his own caucus together. Maybe this will finally put an end to his leadership status. If so, that’d be long overdue. I’m only concerned about who might replace him. Give me a guy like Tim Kaine. But I might get a woman like Elizabeth Warren. God help us then.

The last thing swing voters want is big, bold ideas from Democrats. That just scares the bejesus out of them. The party’s best shot to make a comeback is to present itself as normal, even boring, but responsible and focussed on nuts and bolts issues, like the cost of living — and keeping the airports open and food on the table for Thanksgiving.

And finally, for all of you out there who want to fight, fight, fight, wouldn’t you rather win, win, win? If Democrats had prevailed on the health care issue they would have taken away one of their best issues for next year. As it now will happen, thanks to the moderates’ deal, Republicans have promised an up or down vote on the Dems’ issue. Spoiler alert: it’ll go down. Republicans will be voting clearly and publicly for astronomical increases in ACA premiums.

The hard-left is beside itself now, but the moderates just gave their party a boost for the mid-terms.