Step 2: Great Pressure, Wrong Target

by Jason Rosenbaum :: Filed Under Political Tactics :: September 21st, 2007 @ 11:39 am EST

It’s been a depressing week in the Senate. Both the Dodd-Leahy bill to restore habeas corpus and the Webb amendment to support our soldiers failed to make cloture, which for all intents and purposes means they will not pass.

There was an amazing amount of netroots organizing around both bills. Just about every major blog was writing about it. Thousands of phone calls no doubt were patched through to Senators from every state. A lot of good it did.

Only 56 Senators voted to restore habeas corpus and to implement the Webb amendment, four short of the 60 needed. Most importantly, only a handful of Republicans crossed the aisle, and the “all important” John Warner switched his vote, speaking out against the Webb amendment when he had voted for it the first time around months ago.

The way Senate rules are set up, it takes 60 votes to invoke cloture and overcome a filibuster. Therefore, even though Democrats have a majority in both houses, nothing can really pass the Senate without 60 votes. It is becoming clear that we are going about our tactics in a reversed fashion. No matter how much pressure the netroots puts on Republican Senators, they will not change their minds until we play political hardball first. While it is nice to get everyone to light up the phones on Capitol Hill, we need to move public opinion in these Senator’s home states before we flood the phones, not after. All the political energy that the netroots has at its command needs to be directed in a more effective way.

The question is: What’s step two? What do we do next?

Step two for netroots activism should be to increase the pressure on Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader. You see, Harry Reid has a choice when Republicans threaten to filibuster. He can require that a Republican threatening filibuster actually make a continuous speech on the floor of the Senate, or he can simply take the threat of a filibuster at face value and either pass a cloture vote, cutting off debate (and requiring 60 votes), or table the bill.

So far, when Republicans threaten to filibuster, Reid allows them to get off without a speech. (Actually, it’s worse than that, as Kagro X explains.) That’s where the problem lies. I understand that you need 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate. What I don’t understand is why Republicans aren’t forced to actually filibuster. Sure, Reid can’t make them filibuster every time they threaten. That’s a colossal waste of time. But there are a few issues where it is warranted, and the absolute most important issue right now is Iraq.

The Webb amendment was about supporting the troops. Harry Reid should have forced the Republicans to talk for days (not just one day, many days, open ended) about why they weren’t going to support the troops by refusing to pass this bill. Even if the bill eventually failed, the Democrats would have had the opportunity to show America that they fight for popular causes. This is how you play political hardball, and the media and public opinion would quickly turn against the obstructionists.

As Reid forces filibusters again and again over Iraq, you can bet that Republican Senators would begin to feel pressure from their constituents. By playing political hardball, the Democrats can make public opinion work for them. There is absolutely no way this kind of tactic would be bad for Democrats at the polls in 2008. In the short run, they appear strong and ready to lead. In the long run, they might actually change four Republican votes and get some real legalisation passed.

It’s not rocket science. Harry Reid has the power to require an actual filibuster if he so chooses, and when the Senate is trying to pass an important Iraq bill, he needs to use it.

So that’s step two. The netroots has the power to turn up the pressure on our elected officials. Next time an Iraq war bill comes up that progressives support, we need to turn up the pressure on Harry Reid. Instead of calling Republican Senators who will never change their minds, we need to call Harry Reid and tell him that we want strong leadership, that we want a fight, and that if he forces a real filibuster, we will be behind him 100%.

The netroots is mature enough to understand that passing monumental legislation through the Senate is going to be hard, or even nearly impossible. However, we won’t stand for weak leadership. If Harry Reid plays hardball with obstructionist Republicans, he won’t get one complaint from us. And I have a strong feeling that the rest of America feels the same way.