Democrats in Crisis

At the time of this writing, Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen appear headed for an election debacle nearing the dimensions of Mondale/Ferraro’s in 1984. If that indeed comes to pass, the Democratic Party will no longer be able to downplay the severity of the crisis it faces. Not since the realigning elections of 1932 and 1936, which swept Roosevelt and the New Deal coalition into long-term ascendancy, has one political party so severely routed another at the presidential level.

To be sure, the Democrats will continue to control the House of Representatives and—unless George Bush’s coattails prove much longer than this scribe expects—the Senate as well. As in 1984, Democratic congressional leaders will proclaim their continuing control as proof positive that Bush has no clear mandate. The voters, they will say, deliberately maintain Democratic congressional hegemony as a check on Republican presidential excesses.

At the time of this writing, Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen appear headed for an election debacle nearing the dimensions of Mondale/Ferraro’s in 1984. If that indeed comes to pass, the Democratic Party will no longer be able to downplay the severity of the crisis it faces. Not since the realigning elections of 1932 and 1936, which swept Roosevelt and the New Deal coalition into long-term ascendancy, has one political party so severely routed another at the presidential level.

To be sure, the Democrats will continue to control the House of Representatives and—unless George Bush’s coattails prove much longer than this scribe expects—the Senate as well. As in 1984, Democratic congressional leaders will proclaim their continuing control as proof positive that Bush has no clear mandate. The voters, they will say, deliberately maintain Democratic congressional hegemony as a check on Republican presidential excesses.