This is, in some ways, a presidential sickness (or salutation,
depending on your point of view.) President Bush fashioned himself
above politics in early 2001. His tax cut aside, he spent much of his
time before September pushing his party to accept a massive new
education entitlement, No Child Left Behind. He was a uniter, not a ...
etc. The Bush political machine was focused on broadening the Bush
coalition from 2000, which consisted of, among other constituencies,
conservative Democrats, Hispanics and a healthy measure of true
independents. The tax cuts had not forestalled the onset of a
recession.
After 9/11, the brass knuckles
came out. Karl Rove's instincts were unleashed. The base furnace
kindled; the world become "us" versus "them," and the Democratic Party
was too loyal and not enough opposition. The Bush White House picked
fights, and razzed conservatives. Bush's political strategists
succeeded in pushing independents to make a choice between parties and
helped to reduce the partition of unaligned independents to about 8% of
the electorate by 2004.
Now -- the
Democratic Party's troubles on Tuesday didn't arise from the White
House's political operation not being nimble or effective enough. And
they were tough: Jon Corzine was encouraged to drop out of the New
Jersey gubernatorial race well before it seemed like he would lose. The
governor of New York has been encouraged to step aside. A combination
of David Axelrod's charm and Patrick Gaspard's grit helped to persuade
DeDe Scozzafava into endorsing the Democrat in New York's 23rd
Congressional district race, thereby saving the night for Democrats.
But
Democrats aren't scared of the Obama White House. Republicans, after
2002, were very scared of the Bush White House. The price of being
independent -- especially in these times -- is worth the disapproval of
the White House. That the DNC/Organizing for America organization didn't
score upset victories on Tuesday night will probably persuade other
Democrats that they don't need too much help.
In
2010, the White House is going to face a trade-off between consensus
governing and rousing the base, which will help them recruit good
candidates, raise money, and define the issues in marginal districts.
I think the White House believes that NY 23 reflects deep structural fissures in the GOP that will redound to the President's benefit in 2012, whereas the economic crisis is a temporal phenomenon than will get better over time
Finally, I think that Obama's personal alienation from the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party -- the guy was a state senator a few years ago and never really identified as a Democrat's Democrat -- contributes to his identity.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/11/the-white-house-political-learning-curve/29690/
