Jim Geraghty of National Review Online explains why angry progressives are unlikely to find satisfaction as they target the Senate’s Democratic leader.
The big story as the week continues is the progressive grassroots’ apoplectic rage at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over how the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is coming to a close. These grassroots told us they were really mad back in March, but now they’re seething and fuming and stomping their feet and telling us they are really, really mad. They’re “furious.” They’re “angry.” They’re “outraged.”
It other words, it’s a day ending in a “y.”
If only someone had warned them that no one wins government shutdown fights, and written something like, “Senate Democrats are eagerly marching forward into a box canyon by intending to filibuster a spending bill and force a government shutdown.” Or something like, “Schumer and the Democrats will have gotten themselves into a high-stakes fight with Trump where one of the party’s key constituencies — government workers — feel the most pain, and it gets worse the longer it drags on.”
Progressives who wanted the shutdown to go on even longer — recall that the next time they tell you how much they care about people — should be thankful Schumer got the shutdown to last as long as it did. According to Axios, a bunch of Senate Democrats were willing to end the shutdown after two weeks — a month ago! Schumer convinced them to keep the government closed until November, when open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act exchanges began.
Grassroots activists almost always hate the congressional leaders of their party — or at minimum, those activists regularly feel that their leaders aren’t “fighting” hard enough. Ask Mitch McConnell. Or Bill Frist. Or Trent Lott. Or Bob Dole.
Leading a party in the Senate is not about pounding the table and emoting; it’s about knowing your caucus well and knowing what legislation they can support and which bills will give them grief back home.
