DEMOCRATS LEARN TO VOLLEY LITMUS TESTS
At the outset of the presidential campaign, Democratic Party elders worried about an epidemic sweeping from one primary state to the next: a sudden plague of litmus tests.
At coffee klatches and town halls, activists pushed candidates to embrace progressive positions on a long list of issues: “Medicare for all,” the Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, reparations for African Americans, impeachment now.
Also abolishing the electoral college, free college tuition, ending the filibuster in the Senate, outlawing fracking, canceling the Keystone
XL pipeline, legalizing marijuana — and more.
The wave of liberal litmus tests reached a peak in July, when most of the candidates in a televised debate said they would abolish private health insurance, decriminalize unauthorized border crossings and guarantee healthcare to undocumented immigrants.
That set off alarms for operatives focused on winning the nomination and the election next year. President Trump already is casting the Democrats’ agenda as socialism run amok. Pushing too far left will only help him make that case.
But in recent weeks, the Democratic tide has shifted. As they’ve barnstormed Iowa and New Hampshire, and spent more time talking with ordinary voters, candidates have begun tacking back toward the center.
The litmus tests are still there, but would-be nominees have found they can safely turn them aside.
Take Medicare for All, Bernie Sanders’s proposal to build a government-run health insurance system and abolish private health insurance in the process.
Initially, candidates felt pressured to sign up. Five of his primary rivals joined Sanders in sponsoring bill in the Senate.
But as details emerged, many voters weren’t happy to learn the plan would bar them from buying private health insurance, even if they wanted it. In an unusual move, Kamala Harris, one of the cosponsors, reversed herself and said she didn’t support that provision.
In last week’s debate, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg all said they opposed Sanders’ plan because it would raise taxes and remove the option of private coverage. None of them got booed.
Last year, progressives pressed candidates for a promise to abolish ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Most candidates responded by redefining the issue. Elizabeth Warren said she’d “replace” ICE. Sanders said he’d “restructure” the agency. Harris said she’d “reexamine” it.
Another way to survive a litmus test is to kill it with kindness. In March, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York unveiled a Green New Deal, a grand plan to meet all the nation’s energy needs from zero-emission sources — and guarantee every American a job, paid vacations and housing in the bargain.
Nearly every Democratic candidate, including Biden, endorsed the concept. But few spelled out which parts of the sprawling package of proposals they backed.
Another option: Just say yes. That’s what most candidates did when asked whether the House of Representatives should launch immediate impeachment proceedings against Trump. With no real disagreement, the issue quickly disappeared.
A new litmus test arose in Thursday’s debate: Beto O’Rourke said he would require owners of assault weapons to give them up in a mandatory buyback.
Harris and Cory Booker agreed, but Biden, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg dissented, saying they support a voluntary buyback, not a mandatory program.
Litmus tests aren’t new. The late columnist William Safire traced the term to the 1970s, when conservatives in the GOP sought to separate “true believers” from centrists.
“Professional politicians, to whom winning is paramount, take pains to avoid the litmus,” Safire noted.
Today’s Democrats seem to be figuring that out.