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Tom Daschle Should Resign as Minority Leader of the Senate
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
When the Dixie Chicks show more courage than the senior ranking Democratic leader does, it's time for him to step aside as minority leader of the United States Senate.
We need someone who can challenge Bush's credibility, not bolster it.
Take for instance what the beginning of this article in a South Dakota newspaper, "Daschle Believes Iraq War Justified," does for polishing up Bush's luster (See: http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/5768671.htm):
The search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq should continue, but coalition forces don't need to find them to justify the war against Saddam Hussein.
That's the take of U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
"Regime change was a legitimate goal, it was accomplished and I think that's laudable in and of its own right,'' Daschle said Thursday.
''In 21 days we eliminated somebody who for 20 years has repressed and tortured his own people and posed a serious risk not only to his country, but to countries all over the world, including the United States,'' he added.
In another recent South Dakota newspaper article, Daschle lauds Bush for his leadership (See: http://www.argusleader.com/washingtonbureau/Fridayfeature.shtml):" Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Bush deserved 'great credit' for his leadership during the war and praised the work of the military."
That is, as they say, the last straw for BuzzFlash.
We had previously editorialized that if Daschle didn't maintain the filibuster against Estrada, he should resign from his leadership position. (Thus far, he has held the course.) But Daschle's latest pro-Bush comments in South Dakota conclusively indicate that he cannot effectively lead the Democrats of the senate into the 2004 election. If Daschle continues on his present lackluster course, the likelihood is that the Republicans will increase their senate majority in the next election.
In prior editorials about Daschle, we noted how his concern about protecting his "red state" backside caused him to squander a golden opportunity to put the Bush Administration -- and the Republican Party -- on the defensive when the Democrats controlled the senate:
So what is Tom Daschle's problem?
Well, as we have noted in the past, Daschle, on his own website wrote the following shortly after Bush's inauguration:
"What a historic weekend for all of America. On Saturday I had the privilege of participating in the swearing in of America's 43rd President, George W. Bush. While President Bush and I have some honest philosophical differences that won't prevent us from working closely together as the 107th Congress opens its session this week. I am looking forward to it. Working together in a true bipartisan spirit we can accomplish great things for South Dakota and all of America. ... Shortly after the swearing in Senator Lott and I called the 107th Congress to order so that we could confirm the first seven of President Bush's cabinet choices. This was easy work as President Bush has done an excellent job with his cabinet selections. On Saturday, we confirmed Secretaries Colin Powell (Secretary of State), Paul O'Neill (Treasury), Ann Veneman (Agriculture), Don Evans (Commerce), Rod Paige (Education), Spence Abraham (Energy), and Don Rumsfeld (Defense). I met with almost all of these nominees in the previous weeks and I am enthusiastic about the chance to work closely with them."
In short, Daschle praised ALL of Bush's cabinet nominees. He promised to accomplish great things with Bush on behalf of South Dakota. And therein lies the rub.
Bush won South Dakota in 2000 by 60% to 38%. Now let's take a look at Trent Lott's Home state of Mississippi: Bush won Mississippi by 58% to 41% in 2000. Are you starting to get the picture? Daschle's home state is more pro-Bush than Trent Lott's home state....
Tom Daschle didn't contest Bush's theft of the 2000 election, even though it was a broad daylight heist brazenly led and articulated by Tony "the fixer" Scalia. Over the past decade, the right wing Republican takeover of the judicial and prosecutorial branch of our democracy has had a ruinous effect.
In another BuzzFlash editorial, we took Daschle to task for his failure to use senate investigative powers (while he was majority leader) to expose the unseemly and potentially illegal doings of the Bush administration:
After two years in which he [Daschle] has caved into the Bush Cartel on taxes, the suppression of civil liberties, given a virtual free pass to the Bush administration on the energy scandals (including Enron), failed to filibuster John Ashcroft, failed to subpoena Bush officials for a wide variety of potential legalities, his assistance in pumping up Bush's "invincible" image, the loss of the senate through a strategy of "risk averse" politics, the failure to make the principled and pragmatic case against a rush to war with Iraq, his refusal to challenge the theft of the election 2000, his inability to convey any distinguishing vision from the Republicans, his inability to offer a comprehensive alternative economic policy, his unwillingness to engage in a muscular battle with the junk yard dogs of the Grand Hypocrisy Party, his failure to achieve a truly independent 9/11 investigation commission, his failure to make an issue of the Bush appointment of felons to important positions, his unwillingness to make an issue of the Big Brother proposed TIPS Program that would have sent citizens spying into our homes, his unwillingness to denounce all of Bush's nepotism appointments (including -- but not limited to -- the offspring of Scalia, Rehnquist and Cheney), his unwillingness or inability to point out that the Admiral "Felon" Poindexter Orwellian invasion of privacy "data collection" system is unacceptable and must be stopped....
(And we don't want to hear from Tom's press secretary that he made a statement about such-and-such on such-and-such a date. This isn't about copying-machine government. This is about passion, vision, leadership, democracy and justice. This is about caring and commitment. This is about being willing to battle for your beliefs -- and not play some little insider's chess game that gives the Democrats a few more chairs in the Senate dining room.)
But, in short, Daschle has squandered the chance for the Democrats to put the Bush Cartel on the defensive. In fact, Daschle fumbled almost every opportunity to launch a proactive offensive party strategy. He, for a short time, had the investigative powers that come with being the Senate majority -- and he did virtually nothing. He let the Bush Cartel off the hook again and again.
While some Democrats in the House of Representatives, such as John Conyers and Henry Waxman, did everything they could to expose the Bush administration relationship to Enron and the Cheney relationship to energy company corruption, they lacked subpoena power to investigate White House malfeasance. Tom Daschle, as majority leader before the election of 2002 had the subpoena power and sat on his hands, afraid that he might endanger the re-election of Tim Johnson to the senate from South Dakota.
Furthermore, according to a Salon article, Russ Feingold blames Daschle for green lighting Senate Democratic support of the un-American "Patriot Act." Daschle, apparently, didn't want to make waves, and democracy and our Constitution suffered as a result.
If Daschle has failed to create and champion a vigorous Democratic legislative agenda, he is even more negligent in not setting out a Democratic strategy to challenge the Bush administration in the court of public opinion. As a result, he lost control of the senate in the the 2002 elections.
The Bush Cartel rules America through three main public relations techniques: their masterful control of images and slogans (with the cooperation of a compliant media); their ruthlessness; and their ability to define the terms of the debate.
Daschle has not shown the remotest ability or skill set to counter the Karl Rove success in these three key techniques of maintaining power. Whenever Daschle even tentatively criticizes the Bush administration, he backs off immediately after someone from the White House chastises him. Just call him timid Tom.
Tom Daschle may be a nice guy, and he is good senator for South Dakota. But he is an uninspired minority (and former majority) leader of the senate. The Democrats need someone who understands that national politics is now, in large part, a war over images, the willingness to exercise power, and the ability to put the opposition on the defensive. Tom Daschle has failed in all three areas. He spends his time as Senate Democratic leader clueless about how to challenge the subversion of democracy undertaken by the Bush administration. Furthermore, he is always concerned about how anything he says or does will play in South Dakota.
BuzzFlash is not under any illusion that we have sufficient impact to cause Tom Daschle to do the right thing for America's future. All we can do is have the courage to speak out for truth, justice and the American way. If Daschle, however, truly loves this great nation -- and we believe that he does -- we hope that he will seriously consider devoting himself full-time to his 2004 South Dakota re-election campaign, and hand over the senate Democratic leadership to someone who is prepared to put the Bush administration on the defensive.
We can't afford a skittish, tentative Democratic minority leader who spends more time building up Bush's credibility than challenging it. We can't afford a Democratic minority leader who Karl Rove plays with like a cat toying with a mouse.
After all, the future of this great democracy is at stake.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
