David S. Broder: The Perils of Tampering with Political Done Deals
[David S. Broder is a columnist for the Washington Post.]
Much of political wisdom consists simply of understanding and acknowledging which subjects and practices are off-limits.
Yes, I know, to some people the very term "political wisdom" is a contradiction. To them, true wisdom rejects compromise and insists on clarity and discipline. But those who understand that the American system of governing a free society involves finding practical approaches to complex problems also understand that the "good until" date applies to politics.
As it happens, both parties tested that proposition last week -- to their detriment: the Democrats by the kerfuffle over the reported effort by the White House to offer Rep. Joe Sestak a prominent federal job if he would drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. And the Republicans by the controversial comments of Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul....
Obama cut his political teeth in Chicago, where the Democratic Party had held formal "slating" sessions at which the elder Mayor Richard Daley and his colleagues decided who was worthy of machine backing for jobs large and small. Sixty-two years ago, in 1948, Jake Arvey, Daley's political partner and kingmaker, bragged that in a year of duress for the Democrats, he had launched both Adlai Stevenson's and Paul Douglas's political careers by "slating" them for governor and senator on a blue-ribbon ticket.
But Daley's son, the current mayor, Richard M. Daley, has recognized that times have changed, even in Chicago, and in a system dominated by primaries, voters want to choose candidates for themselves.
Apparently, some operatives at the White House didn't get the memo, and so the president's spokesmen found themselves implicitly asserting that the party nominee in the Pennsylvania Senate race lied -- or confessing that they had....
In Kentucky, there's a parallel lesson about the folly of debating settled issues. Before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation conducted a full-scale debate on the subject of private-sector discrimination. Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats won, and Barry Goldwater, the 1964 nominee who voted against the bill on constitutional grounds, and the Republicans lost....
Read entire article at WaPo
Much of political wisdom consists simply of understanding and acknowledging which subjects and practices are off-limits.
Yes, I know, to some people the very term "political wisdom" is a contradiction. To them, true wisdom rejects compromise and insists on clarity and discipline. But those who understand that the American system of governing a free society involves finding practical approaches to complex problems also understand that the "good until" date applies to politics.
As it happens, both parties tested that proposition last week -- to their detriment: the Democrats by the kerfuffle over the reported effort by the White House to offer Rep. Joe Sestak a prominent federal job if he would drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. And the Republicans by the controversial comments of Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul....
Obama cut his political teeth in Chicago, where the Democratic Party had held formal "slating" sessions at which the elder Mayor Richard Daley and his colleagues decided who was worthy of machine backing for jobs large and small. Sixty-two years ago, in 1948, Jake Arvey, Daley's political partner and kingmaker, bragged that in a year of duress for the Democrats, he had launched both Adlai Stevenson's and Paul Douglas's political careers by "slating" them for governor and senator on a blue-ribbon ticket.
But Daley's son, the current mayor, Richard M. Daley, has recognized that times have changed, even in Chicago, and in a system dominated by primaries, voters want to choose candidates for themselves.
Apparently, some operatives at the White House didn't get the memo, and so the president's spokesmen found themselves implicitly asserting that the party nominee in the Pennsylvania Senate race lied -- or confessing that they had....
In Kentucky, there's a parallel lesson about the folly of debating settled issues. Before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation conducted a full-scale debate on the subject of private-sector discrimination. Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats won, and Barry Goldwater, the 1964 nominee who voted against the bill on constitutional grounds, and the Republicans lost....