Arianna Huffington: Schiavo Case Proves Dems Are Starving For Leadership [View All]

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http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_19448.shtml

Arianna Huffington: Schiavo Case Proves Dems Are Starving For Leadership

By: Arianna Huffington
Published: Wed, 30 Mar 2005



It is about Congressional Democrats and how they once again pathetically misread what moral values mean in a political context. May they miraculously wake from their persistent vegetative state--or it won't be long before they are receiving their political last rites.


The Schiavo case is a perfect example. Before the cards had even been dealt, Senate Democrats decided that the Republicans already held all the aces. So instead of calling Dr. Frist's bluff, they folded, sat out the hand, and headed into the kitchen to see what kind of sandwiches Felix was whipping up. Not a single Democratic senator formally objected to the pro forma voice vote that sent the Schiavo bill to the House, where, with a few notable exceptions--especially Rep. Barney Frank and rising star Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz of Florida--Democrats were nearly as compliant.



And being steamrolled by the Republicans or dancing on Terri Schiavo's grave were not the only two options open to Democrats. If they hadn't been running around hiding from their own shadows, they would have easily found a larger moral frame in which to put the fight over Schiavo's fate.

If the Republicans insist on making the "culture of life" a federal issue, the Democrats should, by all means, let them. But they need to make sure that the national debate doesn't center on tragic anomalies like the Schiavo case but on the thousands of people whose lives are cut short because they lack access to decent health care or on the prolonged suffering of the millions of children living in poverty.