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Saturday, February 18, 2006
Elizabeth Wilner and Chuck Todd have an article in the New York Times looking at the Democratic leadershipin the House. Their point is that the Democrats have not been promoting newer and younger members to positions of leadership. They are trying to emulate the GOP takeover in 1994, but the one area where they are not following that template is in having a bunch of Young Turks pushing for reform.And yet, after languishing in the minority for more than a decade, the Democrats' back bench has yet to produce a Gang of Seven or an insurgent leader such as Gingrich, who inspired dozens of GOP House candidates in 1994. Most of the Democrats elected since the Republicans took over in 1994 simply replaced other Democrats. Moreover, none was really elected on a message of bringing "change" to Congress.Oh gosh. Think of some of these people being committee chairmen: Waxman, Conyers, Rangel, and Dingell. Shudder.
The absence of a Democratic Gang of Seven is even more glaring given that there hasn't been much new blood flowing into the House leadership. Not a single ranking member (i.e., the top member of the minority party) on 21 House committees came to office after the Republicans took control. And in only five instances has a GOP committee chair been in Congress longer than his Democratic ranking-member counterpart.
Even in the majority, Republicans are better about promoting new members. Although Gingrich is gone, one part of his legacy remains: six-year term limits on committee chairmanships. As a result, Republican members, including reformers, climb higher, faster. But Democrats continue to take a top-down approach to ordering their ranks in Congress. Old-timers -- and in many cases, old-time liberals -- still lead the party's charge in many fights. Look at the roster of Democratic ranking members; the only relatively recent arrival (1994) is Bennie Thompson of Mississippi on the Homeland Security Committee, which is a new panel.
If Democrats were to gain control of Congress this November and made no changes to their current lineup, nine of their new committee chairs would be members who won their first elections before 1980: David Obey (1969), Ike Skelton (1976), George Miller (1974), John Dingell (1955), Henry Waxman (1974), John Conyers (1964), Nick Rahall (1976), James Oberstar (1974) and Charlie Rangel (1970). These folks would oversee major committees. Faces of change they are not.
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Elizabeth Wilner and Chuck Todd have an article in the New York Times looking at the Democratic leadershipin the House. Their point is that the Democrats have not been promoting newer and younger members to positions of leadership. They are trying to emulate the GOP takeover in 1994, but the one area where they are not following that template is in having a bunch of Young Turks pushing for reform.
0 comments
Elizabeth Wilner and Chuck Todd have an article in the New York Times looking at the Democratic leadershipin the House. Their point is that the Democrats have not been promoting newer and younger members to positions of leadership. They are trying to emulate the GOP takeover in 1994, but the one area where they are not following that template is in having a bunch of Young Turks pushing for reform.
And yet, after languishing in the minority for more than a decade, the Democrats' back bench has yet to produce a Gang of Seven or an insurgent leader such as Gingrich, who inspired dozens of GOP House candidates in 1994. Most of the Democrats elected since the Republicans took over in 1994 simply replaced other Democrats. Moreover, none was really elected on a message of bringing "change" to Congress.Oh gosh. Think of some of these people being committee chairmen: Waxman, Conyers, Rangel, and Dingell. Shudder.
The absence of a Democratic Gang of Seven is even more glaring given that there hasn't been much new blood flowing into the House leadership. Not a single ranking member (i.e., the top member of the minority party) on 21 House committees came to office after the Republicans took control. And in only five instances has a GOP committee chair been in Congress longer than his Democratic ranking-member counterpart.
Even in the majority, Republicans are better about promoting new members. Although Gingrich is gone, one part of his legacy remains: six-year term limits on committee chairmanships. As a result, Republican members, including reformers, climb higher, faster. But Democrats continue to take a top-down approach to ordering their ranks in Congress. Old-timers -- and in many cases, old-time liberals -- still lead the party's charge in many fights. Look at the roster of Democratic ranking members; the only relatively recent arrival (1994) is Bennie Thompson of Mississippi on the Homeland Security Committee, which is a new panel.
If Democrats were to gain control of Congress this November and made no changes to their current lineup, nine of their new committee chairs would be members who won their first elections before 1980: David Obey (1969), Ike Skelton (1976), George Miller (1974), John Dingell (1955), Henry Waxman (1974), John Conyers (1964), Nick Rahall (1976), James Oberstar (1974) and Charlie Rangel (1970). These folks would oversee major committees. Faces of change they are not.
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