On almost every major question in Washington today, the choice isn't whether to move in a Republican or Democratic direction, but how far in a Republican direction to move.
This is the grim reality of political life for Democrats at a time when the GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.
This situation creates obvious problems for Democrats. But it's also produced surprising risks for Republicans, measured in skidding approval ratings for President Bush and Congress.
The dynamic is more complex than it might seem.
From Social Security, to intervention in the sad case of Terri Schiavo, to the appointment of conservative federal judges, every major debate positions the parties in the same way: Republicans are on offense, Democrats on defense.
The debate on the federal budget isn't about whether to raise taxes to reduce the deficit, it's over how much more to cut taxes. Washington isn't examining how to expand coverage for those without health insurance, but whether to cut the Medicaid program that provides the central strand in our society's safety net.
Democrats are furiously laboring to prevent Bush from carving out private investment accounts from Social Security, but even if they succeed -- which increasingly appears likely -- they only will have preserved the status quo. Because Republicans embraced the cause of Schiavo's parents, her case commanded public attention for weeks, while hardly anyone suggested the mass school shooting in Red Lake, Minn., deserved a policy response.
It's like watching a baseball game where one team is always at bat, or a basketball game where one team always has the ball. The best Democrats can do is hold down the Republican score; the Democrats have found virtually no opportunities to advance their own ideas or to steer the discussion onto their strongest terrain.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. Bill Bradley last week suggested that the party faced this problem because it had not developed enough compelling ideas.
There's some truth to that; congressional Democrats, for instance, have made a tactical decision not to offer an alternative to Bush's Social Security initiative.
But a lack of ideas isn't the Democrats' largest problem. Although the party hasn't embraced an alternative Social Security proposal, some of its leading thinkers, such as Gene Sperling and Peter Orszag, have put serious alternatives on the table. On healthcare, Democratic thinkers have generated innovative plans to reduce malpractice claims, expand access and control costs.
