Rahm Emanuel - The Plan: Big Ideas for America

THE PLAN

THE PLAN

BIG IDEAS FOR
AMERICA

RAHM EMANUEL
AND BRUCE REED

PUBLICAFFAIRS

New York

Copyright 2006 by Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed.

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Book Design by Janet Tingey

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available from the Library
ISBN-13: 978-1-58648-412-5
ISBN-10: 1-58648-412-5

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

To Amy, Zach, Ilana, and Leah
R.E.

To Bonnie, Julia, and Nelson
B.R.

Who am I? Why am I here? Insiders laughed when Ross Perots running mate, Admiral James Stockdale, blurted out those words in the 1992 vice presidential debate. Yet in his own bumbling way, the late admiral had stumbled upon two of the most important and overlooked questions in American politics. As a newcomer making his prime-time debut, Stockdale can be forgiven for wondering who he was and why he was there. When we look around at the current political landscape, we wonder, whats Washingtons excuse?

Most Americans think people in Washington have no idea what theyre doing. From the budget deficit to Iraq to Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration did a heck of a job calling governments competence into question.

But as two politicians who have spent most of the past two decades in Washington, we have encountered a more disturbing truth. Although Washington has its share of screw-ups and incompetents, most politicians here are pretty good at what theyre doing. The trouble is, theyre not always sure why theyre doing it.

Were both dyed-in-the-wool, lifelong Democrats, but we cant help but notice that in recent years, both parties in Washington lost their way. Americans scratch their heads in wonder that Republicans and Democrats cant find common purpose. But the challenge is deeper: Each party needs to be clearer in its own purpose.

How could conservatismwhich even with its many shortcomings was once a rigorous doctrinehave come to such a small-minded, unsatisfying demise? Republicans who rode to power on conservative ideals turned them into a hollow faith. Conservatism became a strategy for winning elections, not leading a nationfor staying in power, not respecting its limits. Conservative leaders forgot what made them conservatives in the first place: a recognition that rigid ideology has always been the God That Failed, and that no idea is good if it doesnt work.

Ironically, conservatives made government bigger, not smaller. In Senator John McCains phrase, Washington Republicans spent like drunken sailorsa conservative administration leading the biggest domestic spending spree since Lyndon Johnson. No wonder Republicans are confused of late: They say their purpose is to get government off our backs, but they have little interest in or intention of doing so, and years of conclusive proof show that left to their own devices, theyll do just the opposite.

With Republicans confused and corrupted by being in power, Democrats became so desperate to stop the damage that we often forgot to show where wed like to lead the country instead. In the 1990s, Democrats began to define a new mission for the country and the party, with impressive results. But in recent years, our anger and frustration with the other side steered us away from our real strength: America hires Democrats to help solve problems, not to listen to us whine about them.

If all this were just about politicsone confused party somehow outmaneuvering the otherit might not matter that so many Republicans and some Democrats lost their way. But whats at stake is far more important than momentary partisan advantage. Today, America cannot afford to stumble. Our enemies are few, but after September 11, 2001, their intentions are clear. Our rivals also are few, but the rapid economic progress of competitors like India and China suggests that their aim is clear, too.

Lack of purpose comes at a heavy price. When the greatest superpower cant decide whether it even needs friends, the world is a more dangerous place. When the White House and Congress set out blindly to tax less and spend more, they literally mortgage the countrys future to emerging economic rivals like China, which is all too happy to help us go deep in debt. When politicians in Washington care more about holding onto power than about what to do with it, they invite a culture of corruption that raids taxpayers pockets and saps the nations strength.

It shouldnt be this way. From the outset, America has been the most purposeful nation on earth. Americans work harder, plan more, and dream bigger than anyone else. One of the best-selling books so far this century is Rick Warrens The Purpose Driven Life. There is no excuse for American politics to be driven by anything less than purpose.

When historians look back on the early twenty-first century, they will have no trouble finding the precise moment when the Republican majority in Washington lost its way for good. On Palm Sunday weekend, 2005, then Majority Leader Tom DeLaydesperate to divert attention from his ethical troublescalled the House of Representatives into emergency session to try to rescue Terry Schiavo, a Florida woman who had spent fifteen years in a coma and showed no prospect of recovery. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a capable doctor before he went into politics, watched a videotape of Schiavo and claimed to see miraculous signs of life. President Bush, on vacation from the rest of Americas problems, rushed back from Crawford, Texas, to address the Schiavo crisis. Poor Terry Schiavo did not come back to life, even after the Republican Congress passed a law ordering federal courts to prolong her ordeal.

The Schiavo case was merely the most wrenching example of the pervasive pointlessness of current politics. The nation is at war, the government is broke, Washington is on the takeand yet the deeper the pile of problems, the shallower the political systems response. Faced with the long, arduous challenge of turning America around, Washington has instead become the patron saint of lost causes.

Washington isnt lost because those in charge are bad people. (Well, perhaps some of them are.) Theres a larger reason: The old maps dont work anymore, and many of the old landmarks are gone.