Democrats have found themselves in a disconcerting situation as a result of how Senate Minority  Leader Chuck Schumer handled the recent situation that helped the Republican controlled senate to reopen the government.  Minority Leader Schumer, after conferring with a small number of Democratic senators, which included senators Susan Collins and Joe Manchin, decided to work with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reopen the government without any real concessions from the Majority Leader.  This not only angered many progressive senators in the party but it angered many progressives overall.

I know that I was angry because I believed that the fact that senate Democrats had refused to support the Continuing Resolution (CR) unless it included a solution to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or at least a guarantee that this problem would be addressed immediately to avoid going beyond the March 5 deadline, which was arbitrarily imposed by Mr. Trump, had the support of the Democrats’ base and the majority of the American people.  And for Minority Leader Schumer to give up the fight for virtually no concessions from the other side made me wonder why he bothered to stand on the side of a shutdown in the first place.

Then I read Ezra Klein’s article in Vox.com dated 1/22/2018 entitled ‘Democrats didn’t cave on the shutdown’.  It calmed me down somewhat and allowed me to think more clearly.  I then read Pat Garofalo’s article in U.S. News & World Report also dated 1/22/2018, which was basically the counterpoint to that of Ezra Klein’s and it gave me a basis of comparison for Mr. Klein’s conclusion that the Democrats did not cave and my conclusion that Minority Leader Schumer (and therefore the Democrats) did cave.

After I read these articles, I was able to moderate my disgust with Senator Schumer and my ‘I told you so’ attitude toward him that I had expressed in a previous article that I posted to this site before he became Minority Leader.  I still am not sure that he is the person for the Minority Leader job and neither am I sure that I will believe that he is after I further consider the situation; even if his tactic proves to be successful.

The bottom line is that we Democrats are in a quandary that we absolutely must find a way to extricate ourselves from and remain intact as a cohesive party.  Obviously, if I am a reasonable example of how those angry Democratic senators and other progressives feel, it will take some work.  Because although I have been able to moderate my anger regarding this cave…or not, by the Minority Leader, the fiery anger that engulfed me may be out but the top of my head has not yet stopped smoldering and the smoke has not yet stopped rising.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line