The rabid - and quite vocal - far left segment of the Democratic base is claiming credit for victory and they want to see action.

Some of the very activists who helped propel the Democrats to a majority in the House and Senate last week are claiming credit for the victories and demanding what they consider their due: a set of ambitious — and politically provocative — actions on gun control, abortion, national security and other issues that party leaders fear could alienate moderate voters and leave Democrats vulnerable to GOP attacks as big spenders or soft on terrorism.

…

Several of the labor movement’s less-controversial goals, such as raising the minimum wage and allowing Medicare to seek discounts on drug prices, are found both in the AFL-CIO’s brochures and on a Democratic leadership wish list designed to appeal across ideological lines.

But labor officials said they expected Pelosi, Reid and others to go further.

The day after the election, labor leaders declared a mandate for their causes and called on the new Congress to immediately reverse anti-union policies enacted by the Bush administration and promote affordable healthcare “for all.”

The major problem facing Democrats is that they were not elected on a platform of limiting gun ownership rights, socializing medical care, and making abortion more accessible.  They were elected for three major reasons: Iraq, corruption, and fiscal irresponsibility - and they recruited many conservatives in order to win.

If the Dems want their control of Congress to last longer than two years they should bide their time by counterbalancing the Bush administration and building goodwill with the people as fiscal hawks (doing so without raising taxes would be to their benefit).  I could be wrong, but I would hazard a guess that much of the legislation their angry left base wants them to pass would give the Republicans all the red meat they would need to retain the Oval Office and probably recapture the Legislative branch in 2008.  I have no desire to see the Democrats have prolonged success simply because I fear they will endeavor to separate me from my wallet.  But my advice would be to let their 2008 Presidential nominee shape the debate on those issues - and either win or lose on them.

The GOP just lost Congress because they acted in a manner that was not in keeping with the desires of the voters who put them there.  The Dems would be wise to not follow their lead.

Related content:

This entry was posted by Brian on Sunday, November 12th, 2006 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Angry Left, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.