The Life of the Party: Democratic Prospects in 1988 and Beyond.

• Author: Cooper, Matthew

Stop Pandering to the Middle Class

In a campaign that's not brimming with memorable one-liners, the best is probably Paul Simon's: "I'm not a neo-anything." It's a claim we've heard before. The I'm-the-real-Democrat speech has become a staple of presidential races. In 1980, Ted Kennedy ripped into Jimmy Carter for abandoning the Democratic faith. In 1984, Walter Mondale boasted that he was no imposter, just "a down-home Democrat who believes in fighting for people."

But what does it mean to be a good Democrat? Since 36 states have voted consistently Republican in four of the last five presidential elections, would it be wise and considered counsel for Democrats to rethink their party's attachment to programs like Medicare and Social Security? Or is it better to bolt the door, draw the shades, and start firing from the second floor?

Those who want to pull out their Smith & Wessons will find a ready ally in Robert Kuttner. An economics writer for The Boston Globe and The New Republic, Kuttner warns Democrats not to become like those neo-anything who want to cut entitlement programs. His last book focused on economics, arguing that the liberal programs of the New Deal and the Great Society are not only fair but spur growth. Now he turns his attention to politics, contending that Democrats who expand benefits like Social Security and Medicare can earn a round of applause in the voting booth. For Kuttner, the political salvation of Democrats, "the life of the party," is economics. Hazy themes of a "new generation" (Gary Hart), or "leadership" (Walter Mondale), or even important questions of foreign policy (George McGovern), or social issues (George Wallace) won't fly.

If you've read his articles, may of which were adapted for this book, you know Kuttner is not only sharp but a competent writer. (To my mind he's pulled off the most impressive of achievements--being able to begin sentences with "The dollar" and take them to the period in a way that you can both enjoy and understand.) Adn it's refreshing to read somethin so fiercely opinionated that it treats "bipartisanship" like a four-letter word. For Kuttner, "partisan" is an accolade; politicians he likes are dubbed "good Democrats."

Much of his political blueprint for the party seems well designed. Democratic politicians should spend fewer afternoons lunching with PAC contributors and more late nights coming up with a plan to reach out to working-class voters. But Kuttner's careful criticisms of the Democratic party make his reckless proposals, like his insistence that it expand entitlements without targeting those in need, all the more disheartening. The adrenalin that fuels the book also drives it into ditches. Like Paul simon, he seems to have convinced himself that he's the sole keeper of the flame. (Democrats and policies he doesn't like are "bloodless," "sterile," "managerial.") But in his obsession with economics, Kuttner has produced a vision of the Democratic party that seems antiseptic. In his defense of liberalism, he disregards much of what ails it and can revive it.

Coal and turkey

For Kuttner, how the Democratic party squandered its majority is the story of its failure to bring home the goods. Franklin Roosevelt endeared voters to the government and the party through Social Security, rural electrification, and veterans' benefits. "'Tax and tax, spend and spend' is a scornful description of the Democrats popularized by Ronald Reagan," writes Kuttner. "But the original version of the phrase, attributed to FDR's aide Harry Hopkins, went: 'Tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect!'" Truman and Kennedy kept the flame burning, writes Kuttner. With the Great Society, Lyndon Johnson bound more voters to the party. "Although the older local Democratic party machine--of the much sentimentalized bucket of coal and Christmas turkey--was quite moribund by the 1960s, the newer federal programs served just as well to cement party allegiances."

But by the end of Johnson's term, the party was falling apart, not only over war and race, Kuttner says, but over a failure to retain its commitment to expanding those pocketbook programs. "The party of all the people, which made room for factory workers, urban bosses, uptown reformers, Southern...