Are Democrats in Congress not 'fighting' hard enough? Don't believe it.
By Paul Waldman June 14 at 1:53 PM
In an echo of what Republicans experienced after Barack Obama was elected and the tea party emerged as a force within their party, Democratic activists are beginning to ask whether their elected representatives are fighting hard enough against this administration and Republicans in Congress.
It’s an important question that will shape not only the next couple of elections but also the degree to which the GOP can advance a sweeping agenda that would take the country in a radical new direction. And right now, that argument is centered on the health-care bill that Senate Republicans are writing in secret and hoping to ram through to a vote before the public realizes what’s happening.
There’s an impulse to say that if President Trump is a disaster and the GOP agenda is a nightmare, then what congressional Democrats should do is fight, anywhere and everywhere, with every tool at their disposal. Some activists are concerned that Democrats are being too timid; peruse Facebook and Twitter and you’ll find a lot of comments about spineless Democrats once again folding in the face of Republican aggression.
But the question isn’t whether they’re fighting in the most dramatic way; it’s whether they’re fighting in the most effective way. If you’re going to argue that they aren’t, you have to be specific about what they should be doing instead, and what different outcome that alternate strategy would be likely to produce. That question becomes complicated because there are multiple goals Democrats have at the moment, among them:
1. Find a way to defeat the GOP health-care bill.
2. Maximize the chances of winning the House in 2018 (the Senate is theoretically possible but much tougher).
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/06/14/are-democrats-in-congress-not-fighting-hard-enough-dont-believe-it/
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