The Republican of Springfield (Mass.), March 31:
When Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate since 2004, announced that he’d not be seeking re-election next year, his decision left a gigantic void in the party hierarchy. For about two minutes.
While folks were still composing their tributes to Reid, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer was solidifying the support he’d need to become the next party leader. Even though those votes won’t be counted until early 2017.
This sets the tone for the Democratic Party, at least in the Senate, fully 19 months before the 2016 balloting. The winners? The mainstream, old-school Democrats, the folks who like to get things done and know how to legislate ”“ with support from both sides of the aisle. The losers? The populist, left wing Democrats, the tea party set’s opposite number.
Consider: There’s another name for the millionaires and billionaires with their armies of lawyers and lobbyists that Bay State Sen. Elizabeth Warren so loves to decry: Chuck Schumer’s friends and allies and supporters on Wall Street. Nonetheless, Warren, for her part, was full of praise for Schumer, noting that he was one of the first to forcefully back the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. True enough, but what’s more important is that Warren knows well that there’s nothing to be gained by badmouthing the leader-to-be.
So many of the written tributes to Reid noted prominently that the senator was a onetime boxer. Most used this as a way to point out Reid’s toughness, his willingness to battle. While there is perhaps a point to be made there, what it shows mostly is that many Washington observers know politics more than they do boxing. A boxing match is not a street fight. It is a dance punctuated by violence. It is a moving chess match, again punctuated by violence. Reid was not only fast on his feet, but was always, like the best chess players, looking many, many moves ahead.
Just because he’ll be leaving doesn’t mean he’s gone. Or that his presence won’t be felt. Reid has been a master tactician in Congress’ upper chamber. With his shrewd moves out of the gate, Schumer is showing himself to be no slouch.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
