The
Germans have a word for the emotion that seized many Democrats after hearing
of the criminal indictment on money-laundering charges of House Majority
Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas. The word is schadenfreude, which is defined
as taking malicious pleasure at the misfortune of others.
It could simply be that Tom Delay and Democrats bring out the worst in
each other. The Texan, proudly proclaiming his Christian faith, still
admits, "I've never been able to understand that 'turn your other
cheek' stuff," while regularly questioning the patriotism of Americans
on the other side of the aisle. It's a good bet that a majority of Democrats
are convinced that DeLay would steal a hot stove and go back for the smoke,
right after he had inserted bamboo shoots under the fingernails of widows
and orphans.
Yes, Tom DeLay is a bare-knuckled political brawler, capable of raising
copious sums of political money from corporate coffers and successfully
twisting enough GOP colleagues' arms that President Bush could secure
House passage of his most controversial initiatives virtually on Republican
votes alone. But both DeLay's admirers and critics frequently overlook
the man's strategic sense.
In the informed judgment of veteran Democratic strategist Tom O'Donnell,
who as chief of staff to longtime House Democratic leader Rep. Richard
Gephardt of Missouri saw the Texan's skills up-close and too personal,
"Tom Delay is an exceptional political strategist."
Let me agree. In my judgment, George W. Bush never would have been elected
president in 2000 if Tom DeLay had not single-handedly stopped the momentum
in both parties toward a compromise such as censure -- instead
of impeachment -- of President Bill Clinton after the 1998 congressional
elections, in which the GOP loss of House seats led to the resignation
of Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Back-channel negotiations between congressional Republicans and the White
House had reached the point of contemplating a public apology by Clinton
in the well of the House and the payment by him of a fine. It would
have been a dramatic act of presidential contrition. Given the American
voters' capacity for forgiveness, President Clinton's indefensible conduct
with Monica Lewinsky would have been a non-issue in 2000.
To derail any compromise on censure and ensure the House's voting to impeach
Clinton, DeLay organized and persuaded leaders from the religious right
(who are mostly a lot more right than religious) to lobby House Republicans
to back impeachment as the constitutionally prescribed course and also
enlisted influential conservative radio talk-show hosts to oppose censure.
DeLay succeeded. The House did vote to impeach Bill Clinton, even though
the Senate failed to convict. This meant that the tawdry details were
further elaborated and amplified, and that George W. Bush, running at
a time when by a two-to-one margin voters believed the country was headed
in the right direction, could offer himself as a change not of direction,
but of leadership, pledging to restore dignity to the White House.
"No matter what anyone might say, impeachment hurt Democrats politically,"
Gephardt said Thursday.
Gephardt remains impressed by DeLay's successful disciplining of House
Republicans: "He refined the enforcer role. He took no prisoners,
cutting off dollars to dissenters and putting people on -- or taking them
off -- House committees."
After the Republican takeover of the House in 1994, Dick Gephardt had
dinner with Newt Gingrich, where the defeated Democrat asked the victorious
Republican just exactly how he had pulled it off. Gingrich's one-word
answer: "Money." DeLay took money-raising to levels unimagined
by Gingrich, bluntly informing corporations that contributions to Democrats
would hurt their cause in the GOP councils.
My favorite description of DeLay's successful formula inside the House
is attributed to a Republican colleague by Michael Barone: "His whip
operation is a cross between the concierge at the Plaza and the mafia.
They can get you anything you want, but it will cost you."
That rings true, but it is also probably true that George W. Bush, who
has never been personally close to Tom DeLay, would never have become
president without the Hammer's keen strategic sense.
