Remember last year? When Climate Change was not just going to be a issue, it was going to be THE issue? Combining economic opportunity with cutting Vermonters’ bills and drafting a narrative of Douglas as some sort of anti-science, GOP ideologue? It was his big vulnerability that could hammer him going into the election.
Ah, those were the days.
What’s the buzz coming out of the session now? Well – its all about an economic stimulus package, meaning – of course – whatever you want it to.
No, that’s not exactly right – it means whatever Jim Douglas wants it to. Douglas did what he always does – waited ’til the waning days of the session, when Democratic leaders have wound down whatever coordinated message assaults they started the session with in the face of the all-consuming slog to adjournment. Then, with days to go, he drops a big bomb into the middle of of the process – designed not to amount to anything in terms of policy – just to completely and utterly take control of the conversation. He did it last year with his “affordability agenda”, and for the first time lost control of the political narrative later that same year over climate change.
But he’s back now, and he’s done it again. And, as usual, he’s taken his lead from the national Republicans who did the same thing; dropped the term stimulus package into the arena, knowing full well that Dem legislators – who have serious issues with creativity, timing, confidence and nerve, would stumble all over themselves in their frantic me-too-ing.
Douglas, who has been phoning it in all year, didn’t even break a sweat over this one. He just copied Bush, tossing out his stimulus package – which seems to be something he cobbled together after the fact, probably over a donut break. Warmed-over old proposals, lots of debt, virtual no “stimulus” but with arbitrary pie-in-the-sky figures attached to it that have every economist in the state scratching their heads. Hell – look around the right wing websites in the state, and you won’t even find them supporting it, as they all know how ridiculous it is. They’re all staying quiet on the subject, hoping nobody will notice, focusing instead on how bad Peter Shumlin is for calling out IBM’s John O’Kane for his brazen misrepresentation of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning fund bill.
But we all fall in line – and its not just Dems. First to jump was Anthony Pollina with his stimulus package. Finally, bringing up the rear comes the Democratic stimulus package. The rhetoric game has been set and the rules laid out entirely by Jim Douglas, and it occurs to no one that that may be a reason in-and-of-itself not to – once again – play along.
Because not only has Douglas completely reset the communications agenda and debate parameters with an afterthought – he’s controlling its particulars as well, as the papers are only reporting on the competing stimili in terms of what part of Douglas’s proposals they leave out. Douglas’s non-ideas are, still, the standard on which all proposals are being judged. And that’s likely to be the narrative going into the campaign season.
Now its impossible not to have some sympathy for Dems. Douglas strikes when they are most vulnerable. Still, being understanding does not mean that we have to just live with it. The House Democratic Caucus pays someone to do communications work, after all – although its unclear to me what he’s doing (I’m not saying he’s not doing anything, I’m just saying its not apparent what he’s doing…). Of course, they had Bill Lofy on staff – a real pro who ran Paul Wellstone’s communications operation. But he’s gone now, and although you can never tell with these things, one wonders if he didn’t leave to go to a job where his expertise might be more heeded and appreciated.
Whatever the particulars, this is consistently Jim Douglas’s biggest advantage, and as superior as this session has been to the last one, its still a crucial advantage that his opponents have allowed him to use to (apparently) maximum effect, both in terms of policy and electioneering. For my part, I hold the unpopular opinion that one of the best things we could do to both improve the governing process, as well as neutralize the skewed balance of power towards the executive branch that so consistently works against the interest of Vermonters (yes, under Dean as well) would be to bite the bullet, cough up an extra $3.5 to $4 million a year, and professionalize the Senate into a full time, year-round job, giving each Senator a staffer. This way, bills and policies could be more fully fleshed out, rather than passed lickety-split and punted to the administration to work out the details. Oversight could actually begin to mean something, and keeping the bigger body (the House) as is would make for an interesting cross-dynamic and greater breadth of perspectives (not to mention keep it affordable).
It’s not gonna happen, but it should.
