Stupid Dem Tricks

What could be sillier than Senator Evan Bayh's new attempts to create a moderate, blue dog caucus in the Senate? Why, that would be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsing such an idea. It seems that even after winning the White House and a score of new Senate seats, some high-profile Democrats still lack basic common political sense.

Maybe someone can explain to me why the newly-minted 58-person caucus (or perhaps 59-person caucus, assuming Al Franken wins the Minnesota recount) should immediately be carved up into ideological camps. Assuredly, a new blue dog caucus would move to accomplish just that. Oh wait, now I remember: because Evan Bayh is trying desperately to stay relevant. After all, Bayh, who was too cowardly to pursue a White House run -- despite coveting the job since the moment he got to Washington -- backed Hillary Clinton early and heavily. Finding himself as a back-bencher now with no upward path in the near future has to be tough, and finding a way to lead the Senate's moderate Dems would be a perfect balm for Bayh's political ambitions and personal ego going forward.

Personally, I think these efforts are destined to fail for the same reasons already outlined by people smarter than I. This is because unlike in the House, Senators possess tremendous individual power in the form of unanimous consent and some other mechanisms. In the House, the majority leadership can and often does lead with an iron fist, but in the Senate, if just one single Senator wants, he or she can gum up the works and slow things down. This is precisely how Senator Tom Coburn is able to hold up the Senate so often. Consequently, getting a bloc of Senators to agree to pool their votes together on general matters and specific votes would be much harder for a new caucus group, as it would call on Senators to give up their individual power. And this is to say nothing for Senators checking their own egos for a larger group, something much less liklely in a body of a 100, where egos are even larger than in that oh-less-exclusive body of 435. For these reasons, I don't see Bayh being successful in his new venture.

In terms of Harry Reid, I think the issue is simply one of poor leadership and a plain lack of savvy. To be blunt, I just don't think he's very smart and his endorsement of a Senate blue dog caucus is indicative of that. I realize Reid is a moderate and he is also facing re-election in two years, but fracturing an already unruly body even further is not the way to run a caucus. Especially with Democrats in complete control of the federal government. Sadly, this is what I have come to expect from the man who was afraid to stand up to Joe Lieberman.