Obama and His Base: Who's The Maverick Now?
Posted: 04/3/10
Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican nominee John McCain called himself a political maverick with "the record and the scars" to prove it, in contrast to a rival he portrayed as a spineless party man who never challenged Democratic leaders or interest groups. At this point, as President Obama launches a new era of offshore oil and gas drilling, the two men have largely reversed roles.
McCain, facing competition from the right in the Arizona GOP Senate primary, has abandoned his past as a champion of comprehensive immigration reform and climate change legislation. He has turned against the TARP bank bailout (which he supported when he was a presidential candidate). And he went along with his party in saying no to the Democrats' economic stimulus and health reform bills.
Obama, on the other hand, seems to be annoying an increasingly broad swath of his party base:
- Liberals were adamantly against his "surge" of troops and money in Afghanistan. They don't like that Guantánamo Bay prison is still open or that many of George W. Bush's anti-terror tactics are still in use. They were deeply unhappy that Obama did not seem to care much about their beloved "public option" -- a government-run insurance plan that didn't make it into the final health reform law.
- Labor was upset by Obama's steadfast support for an excise tax on expensive health insurance policies, the very types of policies many unions had negotiated in lieu of pay raises. Nor has the president pushed for a vote on the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to form unions and which is labor's top priority. Obama didn't do it when he had a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate, and he isn't doing it now.
- Teachers have long been wary of Obama's support for charter schools and pay-for-performance policies. The two big teacher unions reacted negatively to Obama's proposed rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the plan "scapegoats" teachers. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, said the NEA could not support it in its current form.
-- Abortion rights advocates were livid during the health reform debate when Obama and leading Democrats sided with abortion opponents who wanted to ban abortion coverage in policies sold through new competitive marketplaces. Some people would be paying for policies at least partly with government subsidies. Obama signed an executive order reaffirming the federal policy that no taxpayer money would pay for abortions, dismaying feminist activists but securing the votes he needed from anti-abortion Democrats.
-- Gay rights advocates felt Obama had abandoned them when for a year he did nothing about ending the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. That shifted in February when Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, told Congress it was time to change the policy. They are studying how to make the transition and last month they eased enforcement.
- Environmentalists were muted in their reactions when Obama revived the moribund U.S. nuclear power industry with $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for two new reactors in Georgia. There is more overt dismay over his new offshore drilling plan, although Obama has signaled since his campaign that he would take this path. The League of Conservation Voters said Obama's "highly disappointing" plan will "continue the failed policies of the past." Added the (also disappointed) Sierra Club, "There's no reason to drill our coasts."
Obama, however, offered at least one reason. He said the oil and gas are needed as a stopgap for economic and security reasons "as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy." He also depicted his drilling plan as a step toward a bipartisan energy and climate bill. "I think that we can break out of the broken politics of the past," he said. "I know that we can come together to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation that's going to ... create millions of new jobs, protect our planet, and help us become more energy independent."
The House has passed a comprehensive bill that includes a controversial cap-and-trade system to limit carbon pollution. But it is unclear whether the Senate can surmount a heavy workload, gridlock, and partisanship -- and whether the drilling is as much of a lure as Obama intends it to be. Some Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce called Obama's five-year plan too restrictive (the West Coast, the East Coast above New Jersey, and parts of Alaska and Florida are off limits). One liberal critic, Matt Yglesias, says the price is too high considering Obama hasn't nailed down GOP votes for a comprehensive energy bill.
While Obama's independent streak is not entirely new, you have to wonder at this point if he's stifling enthusiasm among the diehard Democrats who absolutely must vote this fall if their party is to have any chance of avoiding a debilitating wipeout. But here's the thing. Nearly two-thirds of Americans support more drilling and more nuclear power. And Obama is doing fine with Democrats -- 85 percent approved of his job performance in a recent Bloomberg poll.
Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg said Democrats need opportunities to reach across party lines and show they can govern. That's how you win independents who hate "the Washington culture, the polarized culture," he said this week at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. "Karl Rove had a base strategy," Greenberg added. "And he was very, very consistent, and he destroyed the Republican Party."
It's not that Obama ignores the Democratic base. The appointments he made after Congress went on recess last month, for instance, included labor lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board and lesbian law professor Chai Feldblum to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Beyond that, since he took office, Obama has plugged away at Democratic priorities big and small. According to Politifact's running tab of about 500 Obama campaign promises, he has already kept scores of them. He is easing U.S. troops out of Iraq, perhaps his central campaign pledge. Now he has signed the type of sweeping health overhaul that Democrats have sought for decades.
In the next couple of weeks, three senators -- Democrat John Kerry, Republican Lindsey Graham and independent Joe Lieberman -- will unveil a rewrite of their comprehensive energy bill and it will include nuclear energy and new drilling. If that leads to passage, is the tradeoff worth it to environmentalists?
Dan Weiss, director of climate strategy at the liberal Center for American Progress, said it certainly should be for anyone who believes that "global warming is our greatest environmental threat" and "our greatest economic threat" is that China, Germany and other countries are jumping ahead of us in energy technology. Will it inspire people to vote in November? "There's no deal yet, so we'll have to see," Weiss said.
That is a risk Obama feels comfortable taking, on energy and other issues. His bet is that Democrats will be energized in November by success -- even if some of their hopes and expectations are dashed along the way by a president with a maverick streak.
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