Now that the Democrats have control of Congress, they shouldn't namby-pamby around with the Bush Administration. For 6 years, the Republicans have never let them hold a hearing, never let them offer an amendment. During that time period we have had one party rule, the Republicans being in lock step with the Bush Administration thus defeating the intent of the framers of the Constitution that one branch of government should be a check on the other. Why now that they're in control of at least one branch of government should they make nice with the Republicans? They should know that the Republicans will do everything in their now limited power to thwart them at every turn. Every bill they submit to be signed by President Bush will be vetoed unless there's a veto-proof majority, and for that they will need at least some Republican support. If they don't have it, they're wasting their time passing the bill even though they can get it passed in both the House and the Senate.
They can hold hearings and make rules changes without Bush's say-so so they should go ahead and do those sorts of things. The only thing they can do about the war in Iraq (Bush's pet proect) is to cut off funding. Other than that Bush has complete control. Therefore, they should go ahead and cut off funding. They should have no illusions about the intentions of the Republicans. They have shown themselves to be ruthless at every turn. Supporting our troops means funding the Veterans' Administration and seeing to it that the troops who have been severely scarred and injured are taken care of when they come home. Supporting our troops means that none of their families should have to live in homeless shelters. Suppporting our troops means that none of them should have to serve rotation after rotation without respite. The Bush Administration doesn't support our troops. They are using them up and then throwing them away.
The Dems have to watch out and be on their gurad because the Republicans will attempt to attach amendments to bills that are essentially Trojan horses or poison pills which attempt to defeat the original intent of the bill. For instance, they will vote to raise the minimum wage only if there's an amendment attached which reduces taxes for the rich. Then if the Dems vote that down, the Republicans will attempt to convince the American public that the Dems voted down raising the minimum wage while they were for it! The Dems have to be smarter than the Republicans, not cut them any slack (after all they never cut them any slack) and think one step ahead. It shouldn't be too difficult once they have no illusions who the Republicans are and what they're up to. And by now they should have no illusions.
The Republican strategy basically is unmitigated support for corporations and the wealthy and to hell with the middle class and the poor. As a foreign policy, they're for American chauvinism and war, against diplomacy and working together as an equal with other nations. They're for America first and to hell with everybody else. Universal health care will probably be taken up state by state instead of by the national government which is pathetic. The Dems strategy should be to support the middle class exclusively. Forget all the left wing splinter groups they've supported in the past including the unions which are passe. If they want a majority to vote for them, represent the majority period. The Republican strategy is to support the rich, elicit enormous campaign contributions from them and then buy off the middle class through television ads. This is a positive feedback, self-reinforcing strategy. Therefore, campaign finance reform is crucial or the US is headed for plutocracy if it's not one already.
Globalization, which only benefits rich corporations by allowing them to seek labor wherever it's cheapest, needs to be rolled back. I think this was Clinton's one major mistake - to support globalization. Arguably, it's benefited workers to some extent in the developing world but at the expense of American workers who are left to fend for themsleves. Globalization has helped to turn China into a superpower while the US has become a debtor nation with China and the Arabs being the major creditors. So we're in hock to them all the while we're shoveling enormous sums of money down the drain in Iraq and elsewhere. Military adventurism and financial profligacy is what brought down the Roman Empire and we're following precisely in their footsteps.
In short the Dems need to outsmart the Republicans, conserve their energy for battles they can win and pick and choose those battles wisely. The Republican strategy will be to make them spin their wheels ineffectually as much as possible while they continue to enrich their cronies and bankrupt everyone else.
