2008 Woodie Awards
Democrats split over extent of national reform promises
By: MCT
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Nation
WASHINGTON - The Democrats running for president are promising sweeping changes to reinvigorate America's economy and boost its workers, including health care for all, overhauling or scrapping of trade deals, broad tax cuts for the working class and a crackdown on companies that ship jobs overseas.
Back in Congress, where other Democrats are working to actually pass bills this year, the fate of the economy is equally of concern, but the promises are more modest. Party leaders are quietly pursuing smaller-scale and less expensive plans to create jobs and ease the burden on the middle class, focusing on children's health care, public works and enticements for retirement savings and higher education.
The different approaches reflect a split among Democrats on how much to embrace globalization and how best to help the middle class.
Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have sounded populist themes in their presidential campaigns, particularly when attacking the North American Free Trade Agreement in such manufacturing hubs as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Leading congressional Democrats have taken a more Clintonian - as in former President Bill Clinton - stance that favors trade.
"We shouldn't be renegotiating NAFTA," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who worked in the Clinton White House and is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. "We should be renegotiating the social contract."
The differences underscore the competing realities of the campaign trail, where bold ideas sell best, and the halls of Capitol Hill, where change typically comes in short bursts and where President Bush wields the ultimate power - his veto pen. In one example, Bush has repeatedly blocked a congressional effort to expand federal health coverage for children.
"It's much easier for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and John McCain to say they're going to do X, Y and Z" on the economy, said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House majority leader, "than it is to get a bill passed and signed by a president who doesn't think investment here at home is as important as defense spending or even spending in Iraq."
Back in Congress, where other Democrats are working to actually pass bills this year, the fate of the economy is equally of concern, but the promises are more modest. Party leaders are quietly pursuing smaller-scale and less expensive plans to create jobs and ease the burden on the middle class, focusing on children's health care, public works and enticements for retirement savings and higher education.
The different approaches reflect a split among Democrats on how much to embrace globalization and how best to help the middle class.
Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have sounded populist themes in their presidential campaigns, particularly when attacking the North American Free Trade Agreement in such manufacturing hubs as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Leading congressional Democrats have taken a more Clintonian - as in former President Bill Clinton - stance that favors trade.
"We shouldn't be renegotiating NAFTA," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who worked in the Clinton White House and is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. "We should be renegotiating the social contract."
The differences underscore the competing realities of the campaign trail, where bold ideas sell best, and the halls of Capitol Hill, where change typically comes in short bursts and where President Bush wields the ultimate power - his veto pen. In one example, Bush has repeatedly blocked a congressional effort to expand federal health coverage for children.
"It's much easier for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and John McCain to say they're going to do X, Y and Z" on the economy, said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House majority leader, "than it is to get a bill passed and signed by a president who doesn't think investment here at home is as important as defense spending or even spending in Iraq."
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