Julian Zelizer: Carter, Obama, and the Left-Center Divide
WHEN SENATOR Ted Kennedy walked onto the podium at the 1980 Democratic Convention, the crowd erupted. The senator raised his fist to the Massachusetts delegation. Then he quickly shook President Carter’s hand and walked away without lifting Carter’s arm—the traditional sign of unity at the end of a primary battle. After Kennedy left, the crowd shouted, “We want Ted!” so vigorously that he returned for an encore. At that point, it looked like Carter had to chase Kennedy down to get his attention. Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee, took close notice of what had happened. “If that’s the best they can do in unity, they have a long way to go….” Six months later, Reagan trounced him in the election with 489 Electoral College votes....
President Obama has a historic opportunity to restore an alliance that was crucial to the success of twentieth-century liberalism. The 2008 election depended on a broad Democratic coalition that bridged left and center, and there was a considerable amount of goodwill between congressional liberals and the White House. Thus far, however, Obama has repeated some of the mistakes that Carter made. With each month, it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve the kind of partnership that eluded Carter and Kennedy....
THROUGHOUT THE twentieth century, the interaction between the center of the Democratic Party and its liberal wing produced some of the party’s shining moments, fostering presidential-congressional relations that helped to sustain Democratic majorities. President Roosevelt responded to pressure from third-party challenges in 1935 and 1936, like Louisiana Senator Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth Movement and Francis Townsend’s movement for old age pensions, by stealing their thunder and sending his own version of their proposals to Congress. Textbooks focus on Roosevelt’s accomplishments, but it took liberal legislators such as New York Senator Robert Wagner to push FDR to take on key issues that seemed too risky politically. As the political scientist David Mayhew wrote, “one reading of the significance of the 1932 election might be: It produced a president who would sign Wagner’s bills.” The result was key New Deal programs like Social Security and the Wagner Act.
President Lyndon Johnson continued to listen to the Left, taking on highly explosive issues like civil and voting rights, even as he warned the “bomb-throwers” that they needed to be practical. Vice President Hubert Humphrey served as a bridge between Johnson and liberals like Senators Paul Douglas and Joseph Clark, who counteracted the president’s natural inclination to compromise with conservative forces. New York’s Emanuel Celler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, helped push administration bills on the floor. Martin Luther King Jr. was reportedly in tears when he watched Johnson deliver an address to a joint session of Congress on March 15, 1965 calling for voting rights legislation, only days after the horrific attacks by police on protesters in Alabama. Johnson ended the speech by saying “We Shall Overcome.” Everyone listening understood the significance of the president directly borrowing the language of the civil rights movement, which was still considered radical in many segments of society. While Johnson disagreed with the scale and scope of the measures the Left called for, his ability to implement their ideas remains the greatest legacy of his presidency....
Carter represented the center of the party. He wanted to move beyond the traditional left-right divisions that had characterized national politics. As soon as he started his presidency, Carter showed a willingness to challenge key liberal interest groups like organized labor. He also proposed domestic initiatives, such as energy conservation, that angered many traditional liberal constituencies. On foreign policy, Carter also refused to be pinned down by traditional positions. While he sometimes pleased the Left by taking on issues like improving America’s standing in Central America and championing human rights, he also caused tension by taking tough positions against the Soviet Union.
In contrast, Senator Kennedy represented the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Kennedy remained committed to most ideas and policies that came out of the Great Society. At a time when many members of his party backed away from Lyndon Johnson’s legacy, Kennedy unabashedly defended issues like racial equality and anti-poverty programs. Yet Kennedy was particularly dangerous to Republicans because he was a shrewd politician who knew how to round up votes. Kennedy had seen some of the damage caused to Democrats by extremism on the Left, and he was determined to work inside the political process to get things done. He was also open to new ideas, like deregulation, that did not fit neatly into the traditional Democratic agenda.
If these two men could have worked together, the results could have been explosive. But the relationship did not work, and Carter was unable to nurture an alliance. Their first clash came with health care. Most liberal Democrats, led by organized labor, thought that national health care had to be the top priority for the new administration. In his first year, Carter had postponed action on health care, saying that stabilizing the economy and taming inflation had to come first. When Carter finally told Kennedy that he would not pursue health care reform at all, the senator said that Carter had displayed a “failure of leadership” on the issue....
President Obama came into office with a huge opportunity to remake this coalition. First, because of low public opinion for the policies of President George W. Bush, he was able to stimulate a strong alliance on the campaign trail between the different factions of the Democratic Party. The second reason for optimism among Democrats was the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Like Kennedy, Pelosi is an enormously skilled legislator who has pursued a clear progressive agenda through effective and pragmatic political tactics. Like Kennedy, she stands by liberal ideas but knows how to round up votes.
Yet in President Obama’s first sixteen months in office, liberals and the White House have drifted farther apart. As with Carter, the erosion of support has happened slowly....
As the battle over health care flared, other issues, like climate change and immigration reform, were shelved. Obama has brought climate change back, almost a year after Pelosi found the votes for the bill in the House, but only after a major environmental disaster forced his hand. In the end, most on the Left signed onto the health care legislation and were happy that the party did not walk away with a loss. But many of them found very little satisfaction with the final bill, which they fear will simply offer a bonanza to the insurance industry.
Some of the most stinging criticism of the Obama administration has come from the African American community. In Chicago, PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley organized a summit in March, attended by prominent figures like Cornel West and Jesse Jackson, in which they protested that Obama has not done enough to deal with the problems that disproportionately affect African Americans. They also complained that he has distanced himself from African American leaders by keeping them out of his inner circle....
If he wants to do so, he can’t wait much longer. On June 8, 2010, progressive activists met in Washington to protest the compromises that the administration and congressional Democrats had made. “The White House has been an uncertain trumpet,” said Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future. Pelosi has continually struggled to push the White House to the left, but she was forced to confront the political costs of compromises when she was heckled during a speech to the activists. Following the 2010 midterm elections, Obama will have to work much more closely with Speaker Pelosi to reenergize liberals who feel disillusioned with the administration’s understanding of “change.” The president has to demonstrate a stronger commitment to all of the people who brought him to the dance. If he does, he could bring back an alliance that gave the Democratic Party some of its most politically successful and legislatively productive moments.