Politics

What a great time to be a Congressional Democrat! Buoyed by President Obama’s immense popularity, Senators and Representatives are expected to ride the President’s coat tails to victories this November. By the time it’s all over, Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress should be even greater than they are today.

How did we get here? Democrats in Congress deserve much of the credit themselves, for the passage of several significant pieces of legislation even in the face of Republican opposition. But the ultimate credit belongs to the President, who has successfully navigated the Party through the difficult waters of the past two years.

Economy

Let’s start at the bottom: the economy. Yes, the economy is still in trouble (even though we just learned that the recession officially ended in June 2009). Unemployment is still far too high.

Still, Obama gets credit for saving our economy from a far worse near-certain disaster. Thanks to the President’s “financial stimulus package,” the situation today is far better than it would have otherwise been. At least that’s the consensus among economists, both progressive and conservative. If anything, their most common criticism has been that the stimulus did not go far enough.

Even the government “bail-out” of Chrysler and General Motors, which met with very mixed reviews at the time, now looks very smart — as these companies are out of bankruptcy and well on the road to recovery. And the taxpayers are expected to recoup their investment.

As if that was not enough, Obama led the way to the passage of the most significant financial reform legislation in decades. Among other things, it establishes a Consumer Protection Agency — which should allow the government to better serve as a consumer advocate against corporations. It also limits many of the recent excesses of banks, providing tighter controls of derivative sales and credit card fees. Overall, this is a huge win for the average American.

It doesn’t stop there. The Senate recently passed a long-stalled measure “to aid small businesses with tax breaks and expanded credit, a victory for President Obama after the bill was stalled for months by Republican opposition.” (NYT)

On a related front, President Obama continues his efforts to eliminate tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

Health Care

Probably the best place to look for the reasons behind Obama’s popularity is health care reform. Thanks to the passage of this landmark legislation, Americans can no longer be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions or because of a change in their employment. Plus, millions of Americans who have never been able to afford insurance will now be covered. This is something that has been sought by Presidents, both Democrat and Republican, for more than a century. It took Obama to finally achieve this success. And he did so despite nearly universal opposition from a Republican party that was determined to do everything possible to undermine its passage.

Foreign Policy

While foreign policy has not been at the forefront of this year’s election debates, it’s worth noting that Obama has done admirably well here.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, he has pulled all combat troops out of Iraq — winding down a war that the public has long since wanted to see end.

Afghanistan remains a more difficult problem. Still, Obama has followed through on his campaign pledge to increase troop levels there as part of an overall strategy to stabilize — and ultimately improve — the position there. In his firing of General Stanley McChrystal and replacing him with General David Patraeus, Obama handled an awkward situation with the sort of leadership that even drew praise from Republicans.

Finally, he has rekindled hopes for a peace settlement in the Mideast by getting both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet for negotiations earlier this month.

Supreme Court

In less than two years in office, President Obama has successfully navigated the potentially treacherous political waters of Supreme Court nominations to have not just one but two nominees appointed to the bench. He did this despite the fact that both nominees, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, carried the potential “political liabilities” of being women and from minority ethnic backgrounds — and (yet again) faced almost universal Republican opposition.

Republicans

Not all of the expected success of Democrats this fall is due to the achievements of Obama and the Democratic Party. They have been helped by the failure of Republicans. While neither political party is winning much praise right now, national polls consistently show that Republicans are even less popular than Democrats. They continue to be hurt by their reputation as the “party of no” — intent on blocking anything that Democrats attempt to do, yet offering no alternative vision of their own. And the far right’s views on social issues — such as abortion, gay marriage, religion in schools, and immigration — remain outside of the mainstream.

Obviously, not everything that Obama has done has met with overwhelming approval. Voters remain especially angry about the economy, as they see deficits rising and unemployment not going down. But voters are wise enough to know that Obama’s policies are not the primary causes of these problems. More to the point, Obama is doing much to improve matters. In contrast, Republicans represent a return to the policies that led us down this road in the first place. In the end, this is why Obama and the Democrats will emerge as the big winners come election night this November.

This column was written in an alternate universe. While all the achievements cited here are factually true, it is only in the alternate universe that these achievements have translated into popularity and political success for Obama and the Democrats. In the “real” universe, the situation is quite different.

Unfortunately, for all Americans, we do not live in this alternate universe.

In a recent NYT Op-Ed column, conservative commentator David Brooks wrote: “In the weeks since the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the political debate has fallen into predictably partisan and often puerile categories. Conservatives say this is Obama’s Katrina. Liberals say the spill is proof the government should have more control over industry.”

Although I doubt it was Mr. Brooks’ intention, his quote puts the spotlight on an common and significant difference between Conservatives (typically Republicans) and Liberals (typically Democrats) — with the Conservatives winding up on the wrong side of the tracks.

Liberals “predictably” argue for more “government control.” Increased government regulation is indeed one common goal of liberals. Liberals would argue that, while government is far from perfect and can contribute to wasteful spending, unregulated business is the greater of two evils. Under the best circumstances, government serves as the watchdog for the “common man,” the citizen without the money, power and lobbyists to otherwise compete with the interests of big business. You (especially if you are a conservative) may disagree with this position. But you cannot dispute that it is a legitimate political position — a statement of principle.

Conservatives’ main arguments (at least according to Mr. Brooks) are typically statements such as “this is Obama’s Katrina.” Rather than a statement of principle or indication of what action they might propose — it amounts to name-calling. The intent is to disparage Obama at every opportunity and thereby, hopefully, gain a political advantage. I also find it ironic (as John Stewart similarly pointed out) that this particular Conservative tactic rests on comparing Obama’s actions to an even larger screw-up by his Conservative predecessor, George W. Bush. Not to mention that, at the time of Katrina, these same Conservatives were likely supportive of Bush. In other words, they are not only name-callers but hypocritical name-callers.

I don’t mean to suggest that Liberals always take the high-ground and are never guilty of similar behavior. But, on average, you are much more likely to see things split this way than not. Remember, I am not the one who initially made this point. I’m just the messenger. The message originates with an acknowledged Conservative —  pointing out what is readily taken as the “predictable” truth.

What’s worse here is that, what the Conservative side of the debate lacks in principle and honesty, it makes up for in emotional appeal and political effectiveness. Shouting phrases like “Obama’s Katrina” over and over again on Fox News resonates with their political base much more than anything that Liberals manage to do. That’s one key reason that Liberals too often come out on the losing side of these “debates” with Conservatives — regardless of the relative merits of their “predictable” positions. As long as the public rewards Conservatives for their approach, the situation is unlikely to change. If anything, in this current hyper-partisan climate, I only see things getting worse in the months and years ahead.