AS WE BEGIN 2005, Thomas Nast's 19th century caricatures of the two parties remain unchanged. In Nast's view, Republicans were like elephants; with their long memories, they never ceased reminding Americans that they were the party of Lincoln. As for Democrats, let's just say that even today, donkeys don't have such great memories.
Judging by their opening salvos for the new year, it seems national Democrats have already forgotten the lessons of the past four years, during which they were repeatedly punished by voters for their efforts to delay, dilly-dally and deny progress on key policy matters.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that in light of their losses this past November, Democrats are adopting a strategy to obstruct President Bush's second term. By holding up reform of the Social Security fund, the Byzantine tax code and the runaway tort system, Democrats claim they can advance their agenda by exploiting Republican schisms on these issues.
Far from being a winning strategy, this playbook has eroded the Democrats' power in both of the past two elections.
After running interference against President Bush's education plan, judicial nominations and tax cuts, Democrats were painted as obstructionists and lost control of the Senate in 2002. Continuing their dilatory tactics, Democrats lost even more congressional seats in 2004. Most tellingly, former Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle, whom Republicans made their poster boy for obstructionism, lost his Senate seat entirely -- a rarity for a party leader. Adding insult to injury, despite Democrats' best blocking efforts, President Bush successfully pushed his agenda through anyway.
Besides running against the grain of recent history, another fatal flaw in the Democrats' renewed blocking strategy is that they are unlikely to pick off any Republicans. While the GOP may occasionally disagree among itself over the best means to address the problems we face today, some Democrats fail to even acknowledge the need for reform.
For example, Social Security will go broke before most of us retire. According to the program's own trustees, the retirement pot will start paying out more than it takes in by 2018. In 2042, the levee will have dried.
What's more, we've known this for the past 10 to 20 years. With Americans living longer and more retirees to support, Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme -- a type of fraud that collects more and more from investors to pay other investors until there are not enough investors to collect from.
What do the Democrats have to say about this? Sen. Ted Kennedy denies there is a problem, derides the debate as the "politics of fear" and announces that he is determined to block reform.
The story is the same on tax and tort reform. According to the Tax Foundation, the average American pays so much in taxes that he practically works for the government until May 7; only after that does he get to keep any of his earnings.
On top of that, the National Center for Policy Analysis calculates that Americans spend more than 5 billion hours each year preparing their tax returns.
In litigation land, actuaries at Tillinghast-Towers Perrin report that the tort system costs Americans $246 billion, or 2.4 percent of GDP, per year. Rising medical malpractice claims have driven doctors, especially ob-gyns and other high-risk specialists, out of business.
Again, the Democrats' battle plan is first to deny there are any problems and then to block the president's reform agenda.
As former Sen. Barry Goldwater framed it, politicians can provide a choice or an echo. Either can be a successful strategy depending on the circumstances.
Bill Clinton echoed Republicans on welfare reform in 1996. George W. Bush presented a stark choice against John Kerry on foreign policy this past election.
The problem with the Democrats' renewed obstructionism is that it is neither a choice nor an echo. It tells Americans only what they are against and not what they stand for. Given how this strategy has made them ever the minority party, one would think Democrats would choose to ring in the new year with a new game.
But then again, maybe they've just forgotten the past four years. I know if I were a Democrat, I'd sure like to forget too.
Eric Wang's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ewang@cavalierdaily.com.
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