Power Play
It was the oddest thing in Washington, a deal done from the center. The question now is: Can it hold?
High Noon Had Been Set For About 2:15 p.m.
At the appointed hour last Tuesday, Senate Republicans were expected to initiate the latest, most intense round of combat in the nation's culture wars. They would seek an end to the debate on the appeals-court nomination of Priscilla Owen of Texas and, when that effort failed, begin a series of controversial maneuvers that would change the Senate rules, convert their loss into a win, and curtail the ability of Democrats to filibuster judicial nominees.
Many conservatives, especially evangelical Christians, who cast 78 percent of their votes for President Bush last year, were already celebrating; they believe judges have been legislating from the bench. Liberals were decrying a heavy-handed power grab by the majority Republicans. The planned move was dubbed the "nuclear option" because of the catastrophic effect it was expected to have on the workings of a Senate steeped in hoary tradition. After months of negotiations, the clash seemed unavoidable.
And then . . . it didn't happen.
The 11th-hour deal that saved the Senate is outlined in a shockingly flimsy, two-page document that is even more feeble in terms of what it offers as guarantees and assurances: Seven Democratic senators agreed to move three of the president's nominees forward, and they pledged not to filibuster others, except under "extraordinary circumstances." In exchange, seven Republicans agreed not to vote for the nuclear option. There are no enforcement mechanisms, other than the quaint idea, practically dead in Washington, of taking people at their word. "We don't know what is coming down in the future, but we do know that we trust each other," said Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat. Crowed Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat: "We came together and did the unexpected. In a Senate that has become increasingly partisan and polarized, the bipartisan center held."
And held again! Just a day later, the bipartisan center flexed its muscle anew, as 50 Republicans in the House broke ranks with their party to pass a bill loosening restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The legislation looks like a shoo-in in the Senate, but it has already prompted a veto threat from President Bush.
The week's political jiujitsu scrambled much of the conventional wisdom about the current state of Washington's polarized politics. In a conservative Republican Congress heavily influenced by an emboldened Christian right, who the heck knew that a bipartisan center even still existed? The question now is: Can that center hold? Answer: probably not for long and probably not on every issue. But last week, the moderates proved that here and there, now and then, they will indeed have the power to call the tune. And that means conservative Republicans and the Christian right may have to adjust both their goals and their tactics.
Momentum? For the deal makers, there was a bit of euphoria. "Yes, it'll hold," promised Sen. John McCain, one of the chief negotiators. "Things have momentum, and the people who are saying it won't work are the same people who were against it in the first place." Perhaps. But there's still no shortage of ill will between many Republicans and Democrats. Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, issued a statement declaring the president "wrong politically, morally, and scientifically" on the stem cell issue. It was as clear an indication as any that the cease-fire would be only temporary, at best. A day after that, when Democrats once again put off the vote to confirm John Bolton as Bush's ambassador to the United Nations, to many, it seemed that the hostilities had resumed in earnest.
advertisement
