The Two Faces of Tom Daschle
Insight on the News - Politics
Issue: 02/04/02
By Hans S. NicholsWashington's Week
There's something in the way that Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) cocks his head that has many politicos wondering if he's a straight shooter. That may be because Washington insiders are starting to notice that Daschle seems to be trying to coexist on two different ideological planes. Some are wondering how Daschle's constituents back in South Dakota countenance his two faces. Will the real Tom Daschle please stand up?
"He's practically schizophrenic," a GOP aide says of Daschle, noting that the Senate majority leader supports $20 billion in unauthorized year-end spending even as he protests deficits. What's more, he publicly supported an economic-stimulus package while privately doing everything possible to ensure that no such package ever saw the carpet on the Senate floor.
In response, waspish conservative groups are planning to introduce the real Sen. Daschle to his constituents through radio and TV spots. Contrasting his "heartland talk in South Dakota and his liberal talk in Washington" will be illuminating to all, suggests a conservative operative. To demonstrate how out of step Daschle is with his home state, the aide recalls a South Dakota referendum to abolish the "death tax" that passed with 80 percent of the vote. Even so, Daschle continues to block its repeal back in Washington.
Most pundits agree that Sept. 11 has changed the political mood of the country, but no consensus has yet developed about what this will mean in the November elections. At several Washington gatherings throughout the week, seers on both the left and the right threw up their hands. With Bush's approval ratings shouldering the ozone layer and more than 60 percent of Americans favorable toward Congress, the Washington wiseacres agree that now is not the time for discordant politics.
So what do the experts make of Daschle's increasingly partisan tone? Republican operatives quietly are cheered by Daschle's noisy leftward march, which they are convinced the public finds annoying, and because the Senate majority leader finally is showing his true colors. At a Washington policy forum, for example, Daschle unveiled his strategy of trying to blame the ailing economy on President George W. Bush. "But September 11th and the war aren't the only reasons the surplus is nearly gone," he crowed. "They're not even the biggest reasons. The biggest reason is the tax cut."
As the speculation mounts that Daschle is positioning himself to seek the nomination of the Democratic Party for president in 2004, Washington observers predict that he will have a difficult time reconciling his South Dakota persona with any imaginable nomination strategy. Complicating matters for Daschle is that he's up for re-election to the Senate in 2004. Unlike 2000 vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Daschle will not have the luxury of dropping back into the safety of his Senate seat should he fall short of his national ambition.
When Daschle blamed Bush for a tax cut passed to remedy the ailing economy inherited from Bill Clinton, the majority leader's strategy of juxtaposing himself against the president became obvious. But this has left members of his party wondering what has come over their usually graceful leader. Especially flummoxed were the 12 Democratic senators who voted for Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut, many of whom immediately distanced themselves from the Daschle eruption. Such Democratic stalwarts as Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Robert Torricelli of New Jersey were quick to note the perversity of the Daschle approach. A spokesman for Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) said he "can't imagine that she would advocate delaying or repealing" the tax cut as suggested by Daschle.
"Maybe it's at a level my brain can't reach," Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) remarked. "How do you have as one of your highest priorities to re-elect the moderate Democrats from South Dakota, Montana and Missouri on one hand, then on the other hand blame them for voting for a tax cut that he [Daschle] maintains has created this recession?" Miller cosponsored the tax cut with Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas).
Seasoned observers regarded Daschle's ploy as obvious, explaining that he simply is shoring up his left flank to position himself for 2004. "What he is trying to do is make points with Democratic hard-liners who can help him in a presidential nomination fight," notes National Republican Congressional Committee (RNCC) Chairman Tom Davis of Virginia. "But he is losing ground with middle America, [which] is looking for bipartisanship and constructive solutions."
Carl Forti of the RNCC tells Insight, "With 67 percent of the country supporting the president on the economy, it's going to be difficult for the Dems to gain any traction on this issue." Another GOP operative puts it this way: "Right now Tom Daschle's biggest enemy is Tom Daschle. That speech was a huge miscalculation. Just stupid politics."
For his part, and for his party, President Bush seems to be avoiding the mistake of his father, whose Democrat-crafted tax hike in 1990 cost him support in his governing coalition and probably the 1992 election as well. Would this president raise taxes? "Not over my dead body," declared Dubya.
Not that all Democrats see Daschle's tax-baiting as bad politics. The Democratic Leadership Council urged Bush to reconsider their rejected "trigger" mechanism that "would ablate the tax cut if the surplus dwindled. [I]t is not too late to adjust the path and timing of the out-year tax cuts to better reflect what we now know to be dimming economic prospects and significant new spending priorities," declared Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.).
Also to please the Yellow Dog Democrats at the cost of losing support from the center, Daschle continues to block Bush nominees and live up to the moniker "Senator No." This has forced Bush to consider recess appointments. In fact, Bush made his first such appointment by placing John Magaw, the former Secret Service director, as head of the new Transportation Security Administration. Democrats barely batted an eye, perhaps because Bush first consulted with leaders of both parties.
But the nominations of Otto Reich to be assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere and Eugene Scalia as solicitor general of the Department of Labor hung in the balance. The president was considering recess appointments for both but was waiting to gauge reaction to his installment of Magaw. With the Democrats hardly offering a peep, some analysts think they no longer can object credibly on procedural grounds, lest further cawing be seen for what it is: partisan and ideological stonewalling.
The Washington press corps filled out the week by offering year-end analysis of Bush's first term. For the most part they were glowing in their praise, though some conservatives privately expressed concern, lest Bush squander his popularity as his father did. While they don't think he'll make the tax mistake, they are worried he might come unraveled by not capturing Osama bin Laden, just as his father ultimately failed to dethrone Saddam Hussein.
With Congress in recess and many members in foreign lands, Bush signed his promised education bill under the crocodile smiles of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), giving many conservatives the creeps. "Anything that Ted Kennedy is for can't be good," said one conservative activist. It's likely that the education bill will be remembered for what it really is: photo-op politics designed to soften Bush's image and bolster his bipartisan reputation.
But as Bush scored a political win on education, storm clouds charged with Enron particles continued to gather. Most of the elected officials who have come in contact with Enron are Republicans — including Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff who met with Enron executives six times on his energy plan although the White House said there was no discussion of Enron's finances. That is no doubt why there is concern that Lieberman's Senate investigation will be highly partisan. And if that hasn't caused enough headaches at the White House, the Justice Department has announced a criminal probe from which Attorney General John Ashcroft has recused himself.
While Bush prepared for his first real State of the Union address, nine senators were visiting Kabul, Afghanistan, for photo ops. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lieberman arrived just after British Prime Minister Tony Blair became the first Western head of state to meet with Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai. Did White House political operatives convince Blair to upstage Lieberman and McCain? Fueling such speculation was the fact that a House delegation without a likely 2004 presidential candidate arrived just before the Senate delegation.
Hans S. Nichols is a reporter for Insight.
