The Indulgence Of Absolutism

Washington's ideological enforcers are starting to reassert themselves.

Saturday, March 14, 2009
by Ronald Brownstein
National Journal

It's no coincidence that conservative former Rep. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is mulling a repeat of his 2004 Republican primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter at the same time that liberal activists and bloggers have launched an organization to mount primary contests against congressional Democrats who deviate from the party line too often.

For a moment, President Obama's election around themes of national reconciliation seemed to suppress the militant voices dubious of any compromise between the parties. But now, Washington's ideological enforcers -- the most strident talk-radio hosts and bloggers, the vanguard interest groups of left and right -- are reasserting themselves. At a precarious time, that's a dangerous development.

After the bruising stimulus fight, too many in Congress are retreating to old battle lines and abandoning the hard work of outreach.

The magnitude of the problems we face and the ambition of Obama's responses to them guarantee sharp debate between (and within) the parties. That's entirely appropriate. What's ominous, though, is the intensifying drive from left and right to systematically widen the distance between the sides -- and punish anyone trying to bridge it.

That instinct infuses the denunciation of the three Republican senators who provided the decisive votes for Obama's stimulus plan -- Specter and Maine's Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group headed by Toomey, labeled the trio their "Comrade of the Month," as if voting for the stimulus package, after forcing concessions, revealed them as closet Marxists. One day earlier, Toomey announced he was considering a rematch against Specter.

(More here.)