Where do the Democrats go from here?

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.

AS THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS march through their Contract With America, the Democrats remain in a state of denial. Katharine Seelye, writing in The New York Times, claims they are "strung out between post-election shock syndrome and a chronic inability to get with the program." Rather than construct an alternative, the Congressional Democrats are taking the easier course--waiting for the public to become disenchanted with the Republican program and the consequences of the inevitable budget cuts. In the meantime, they have concentrated their fire on Speaker Newt Gingrich's book contract and fund-raising operations.

On the presidential side, Democratic strategists anticipate that the Republicans will engage in a bloody nomination struggle over abortion, dividing the social moderates from the religious right. Such a strategy assumes that the Republican coalition, leadership, and programs are too fragile to last beyond the next election. It well may be that, by 1996, the public will choke on the bitter medicine of fiscal austerity and the Republicans will self-destruct in an attempt to keep their coalition together. The Democrats should not fool themselves, however. This is not a strategy; it is a wish.

It is not clear whether the Republican message will have staying power with the voters. Nevertheless, that message--smaller government, reduced taxes, and state and local control--is undeniably clear. Gingrich-bashing, Jesse Helms-bashing, and Strom Thurmond-bashing is not a substitute for the Democrats having something of their own to offer.

Being out of power can provide an opportunity for the Democrats to reassess and reinvigorate their ideas. As Gingrich and the Republicans demonstrated, such revitalization can come from Congress and not the executive branch. With the exception of Ronald Reagan's, recent presidential administrations actually have numbed party thinking. The Bush Administration presided over the devitalization of the Reagan Revolution. The two Democratic presidents of the post-Vietnam era--Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton--have offered visions that voters had problems getting a handle on--liberal one moment, moderate the next.

What, then, are the possible directions for the Democratic Party? In simple terms, there are three-center, left, and right.

A centrist strategy is the most appealing, yet most difficult. The politics of the center is subtle. It involves more than merely finding the middle position on all issues. Such a strategy...