Fleshing Out The Democratic Agenda

by John Hawkins | November 14, 2006 10:13 am

Hey Bruce Bartlett, Joe Scarborough, and you other Republicans who were rooting for a Republican loss in 2006, how do you like this agenda? Is it an improvement?

Hillarycare[1]/socialized medicine is back on the table,

“(Hillary) also said Democrats would focus on improving the quality and affordability of health care _ a touchy matter for the former first lady, who in 1993 led her husband’s calamitous attempt to overhaul the nation’s health care system. The failure of that effort helped Republicans win control of both the Senate and House the following year.

“Health care is coming back,” Clinton warned, adding, “It may be a bad dream for some.”

And they’re talking tax increases[2], too.

“A mere two days after Democrats capture Congress claiming they wouldn’t raise taxes, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin tells them they should do so anyway.

“You cannot solve the nation’s fiscal problems without increased revenues,” declared Mr. Rubin, the Democratic Party’s leading economic spokesman, in a speech last Thursday. He also took a crack at economic forecasting by noting that “I think if you were to increase taxes right now, you would have probably about zero negative effect on the economy.”

Then there’s surrendering to the terrorists in Iraq[3],

“Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who will become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, said Democrats would seek a bipartisan agreement to persuade Bush to start pulling troops out of Iraq in four to six months.

“We’ve got to put greater responsibility on the Iraqis and the way to do that — probably the only way to do that — is to let the Iraqis know that within four to six months of the president notifying them, that we’re going to begin a phased redeployment of our troops out of Iraq,” Levin said.”

And last but not least, stopping Bush from wiretapping terrorists[4]:

Emboldened by their electoral victory, Democrats said they believed it would be all but impossible for the Republicans to pass wiretapping legislation before the current Congress adjourns, or to win approval of separate legislation immunizing telephone companies from liability over their cooperation in wiretapping operations.

“There’s no chance of that happening,” predicted a senior Democratic aide for the House Judiciary Committee, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue.

“This is a program a lot of people here thought was excessive,” the aide said of the N.S.A. operation. “There’s a history of concern here.”