| I'm a little behind in getting to it, so this New York Times piece on divisions among Democrats may feel a bit last-month.
I worry, though, that the situation it describes still seems to be playing out:
With major elections approaching over the next year and a half, leading New York Democrats are expressing deep concerns that the party has been thrown into turmoil by competing personal agendas, ideological rifts and a leadership void.
Democratic politicians and strategists warn that the strife threatens to undercut not only any chance of remaining competitive in the race for City Hall this year, but hopes of holding on to the Governor's Mansion and a United States Senate seat in 2010.
At the heart of the problem, Democrats say, is a party that has been unable to maintain any semblance of cohesiveness (or, more bluntly, discipline) as its most prominent leaders either struggle with their own political misfortunes or stand on the sidelines.
I'm sure the question when it's asked in Albany is about discipline and how to restore (create) it. The question from out here is more about cohesion - what actually should bring Democrats together?
I find myself in a strange position. I'm a solid supporter of local and national Democrats, but I'm really not so much a supporter of our state's Democrats. The Republicans are awful, of course, and their weakness, if anything, seems to reinforce Democrats' worst behavior. There just isn't much in Albany political culture right now that seems worth saving. (I'll grant that the State Senate has some interesting new projects going on, and maybe they'll bear fruit.)
A few years ago, a friend explained to me that there really wasn't a State Democratic Party. There were several: one for the Assembly, one for the Senate, another for the Governor, and then others focused on Senate races. Any time those often conflicting pieces had to interact, even sometimes within the same person, chaos ensued. The details are different for the party in New York City, but somehow we just keep losing mayoral races there despite a massive registration advantage.
I don't see any white knights riding to the rescue, and after Spitzer, I don't get the sense that New Yorkers are exactly looking for a white knight. For a moment, Spitzer offered New Yorkers a vision of a better way to govern, but the substance was questionable and was, of course, swallowed up by scandal in any case.
Let's hope that Democrats can find more in common across New York State over the next few years. Maybe voters can find cohesion even if our party infrastructure has to settle for feuding camps. |
