"This is the current challenge to both parties: Can establishment figures restore the tarnished legitimacy of governing institutions?"

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Politics of repair
By Michael Gerson, December 18, 2014

The just-ending 113th Congress was not, by most measures, productive. But its endgame was at least instructive.

As a trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill trundled into law, the populist wings of both political parties declared themselves both revolted and in revolt. The bill, complained Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, “does nothing, absolutely nothing to stop President Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty.” “Who does Congress work for?” asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “Does it work for the millionaires, the billionaires, the giant companies with their armies of lobbyists and lawyers?”

While this alliance of outrage did not prevail, it previewed some of the important debates leading up to the 2016 election.

The challenge from the populist right is familiar, but it is far from spent. Conservatives offended by the omnibus and Obama’s immigration order wanted to do something. This is often the whole substance of conservative strategy: “do something.” After blowing up the Senate process and disrupting the travel plans of their colleagues, Cruz and company demanded a point-of-order vote on whether Obama’s executive order was constitutional. Only 22 senators supported it.

Senate conservatives forced a symbolic vote that ended up symbolizing their broad repudiation. But at least “something” was done.

The open revolt of the populist left is more novel. In this case, it was a rebellion against a sitting Democratic president, joined by former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, forcing the White House to conduct a last-minute scramble for votes. The main provision at issue was the swaps “push-out” rule of the Dodd-Frank financial services reform bill. But Warren used the occasion to throw a large rock into the Democratic pond. The ripples radiate.

There is an element of progressive populism that is looking for a leader — and it is not Hillary Clinton. In 2008, Clinton was beaten by a primary opponent from the anti-war left. There may be a similar market, this time around, for a candidate from the anti-Wall-Street left. MoveOn.org is circulating a draft-Warren petition.

Clinton will be forever associated with former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and an overwhelming desire to please the bond markets. Some baggage can never be checked. And some of us find her past association with economic sanity to be reassuring. But it means that Clinton’s attempts at Occupy Wall Street rhetoric are laughable.

This is the current challenge to both parties: Can establishment figures restore the tarnished legitimacy of governing institutions? Will Clinton or, say, Jeb Bush be able to constructively channel populist anger, or will they be overwhelmed by it?

Many American institutions — starting with the House and Senate, and extending to the manner in which we tax ourselves — are in disrepair. This must be confronted.

But some populists thrive on delegitimizing institutions. They use Congress as a stage for their anger, not as an instrument of reform. They set unattainable goals that encourage political alienation. They adopt a conspiratorial mindset, in which systems are not just broken but rigged by scheming opponents. They end up doing things that serve narrow political and fundraising goals.

America is in need of a politics of repair, not a politics of demolition and rebuilding. We need leaders who take populist discontent seriously, but direct it toward projects of practical reform. America’s distrust of institutions is a fact. But it is a problem, not a goal. The proper response is the renovation of institutions that allow us to live a decent, orderly life together. This is the dignity and importance of the political profession.
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