Tom Daschle Isn't the Problem
" It almost seems as if the G.O.P. is holding a contest to see who can most
often use the word "obstructionist" to describe him.
The attacks - including ads in Mr. Daschle's home state of South Dakota featuring
side-by-side photographs ofhim and Saddam Hussein - are a sure sign of the Senate majority leader's effectiveness in blocking President Bush's hard-right agenda"
The New York Times
Editorial
December 11, 2001
The closing days of this year's
Congressional session have brought
forth a wild Republican campaign to
demonize Senator Tom Daschle. It almost
seems as if the G.O.P. is holding a contest to see who can most often use the
word "obstructionist" to describe him. The attacks - including ads in Mr.
Daschle's home state of South Dakota featuring side-by-side photographs of
him and Saddam Hussein - are a sure sign of the Senate majority leader's
effectiveness in blocking President Bush's hard-right agenda. Today Mr.
Bush meets with Mr. Daschle at the White House, where they can move
beyond vilification to legislation.
The word "obstructionist," voiced over the weekend by Vice President Dick
Cheney, has an unreal ring. Perhaps Mr. Cheney was in a remote, secure
location when, after Sept. 11 and with Mr. Daschle's help, Congress passed
a use-of-force resolution, a $40 billion emergency spending bill, an airline
bailout, a counterterrorism bill and an airport security bill. The Senate has
also passed 13 appropriations bills and its own version of education reform
and a patients' bill of rights. The two things that Mr. Cheney cited that the
Senate had "obstructed" were legislation to drill for energy in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge and a "stimulus" bill to give out huge tax breaks to
corporations and rich people.
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush have called for bipartisan cooperation in
Congress. Yet when asked, the vice president declined to disavow the
attack ads running in South Dakota that accused Mr. Daschle of helping the
Iraqi dictator by blocking the destruction of the Alaska reserve.
The suspicion is growing in some quarters in Washington that Mr. Bush may
not really want economic stimulus legislation. How else to explain that the
White House is sticking with a bill, passed by the House, that many
Republicans say privately they would just as soon abandon? The effect of
spending less than $100 billion to jolt a $10 trillion economy is likely to be
small, and the unnecessary tax breaks aimed at corporations and the wealthy
would make the nation's upcoming deficits even worse. But there are some
good ideas in some versions of the stimulus bill that should be passed,
irrespective of their large-scale economic impact. These pieces would
provide unemployment and health benefits to laid off workers who
desperately need help after Sept. 11.
If Mr. Bush continues to be inflexible on the economic package, Mr. Daschle
should switch tactics and attach the health and jobless benefits to some other
bill before Congress adjourns near Christmas. It would be a travesty to
ignore the real needs of the most vulnerable Americans at a time like this one.
You might even say it was obstructionist.
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