Democrats at risk

There is a big risk that Democrats will write off last week’s special election in Massachusetts without allowing it to challenge any of their beliefs about what Americans want or what President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders should do.

At a meeting of the IU College Democrats last Wednesday the consensus was that Republicans took the seat once held by Sen. Ted Kennedy because the Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, blew it.

“It was a vote between a guy who did porn and a lady who couldn’t spell Massachusetts correctly on her ads,” one member said during a discussion about the election.

Other excuses tossed around on the left are that a tough job market made it impossible for Democrats or that the party wasn’t populist enough in its attacks on Wall Street.

The evidence tells a different story.

Obama’s support among independents is falling, and more voters are calling themselves conservative. A majority of Americans disapprove of the Democrats’ health care proposals, while a poll shows more Americans are agreeing that “government is doing too many things better left to business and individuals.” 

Not all of this backlash against Democrats is fair, but it can’t be ignored. Democrats need to move aggressively to the center and make whatever concessions necessary to get enough Republicans on board.

Many liberals feel they have already made plenty of compromises, like cutting a government-run health insurance option out of the Senate health care bill, only to get nothing in return.

It is true that, with 59 senators and a sizable majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats still have some ways to get what they want regardless of public opinion and without partisan support. It is also true that politicians are sometimes showing leadership, not arrogance, when they support unpopular policies.

That was the case when President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans and Democrats agreed to bail out key players in the financial industry, and it was true when Obama, despite mounting fatigue with the war and opposition within his own party, agreed to send more troops to Afghanistan.

But those examples deal with emergency responses at critical moments. Fighting climate change, changing the perverse incentives that plague American health care and updating financial regulations require reforms that will last more than a few election cycles.

There is precedent for getting moderate reforms through a partisan Congress. President Bill Clinton passed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and other smaller health care changes after his more ambitious reform package failed and Republicans retook Congress.

Republicans might end up balking at any new compromises. Too many in the GOP are content to pretend there is a no-cost way to give everyone health insurance or a painless way to fight climate change.

But Obama and Democrats need to do their best to reach out with much more effort this time.

Hopefully there will be some conservatives willing to accept their offer.