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Minority leader Tom Daschle loves to delay, obstruct and otherwise pervert the intent of the Founders to play petty dictator. The Founders were smart enough to build in checks and balances to our system of Republican rule. However, the checks and balances were meant to temper power grabs by one branch of government, not to enable them. Daschle's use of Senate rules and procedures to block the usual process of lawmaking over a period of years is unparalleled in United States history. Not since the Radical Republicans demanded extreme measures to punish the Southern Democrats after the Civil War has one party waged such a partisan political battle against another.

It was bad enough when Senator Jefford's blatant political opportunism gave Daschle tactical control over the Senate in 2000. At that point, Daschle could hide behind the exploitation of Senate rules and brute force to vote down any Republican proposals in committee, delay measures passed by the House such as the Homeland Security Bill and slow the pace of the Senate to a crawl. Except, of course, for bills that helped his lobbyist wife—Daschle managed to get those bill passed through the Senate in no time at all. All of that would be bad enough during peace time (and it was before 9-11) but now that we are at war Daschle's tactics border on treason.

Daschle is not letting a demotion to minority leader stop him. His filibuster of Appeals Court nominee Miguel Estrada would certainly be condemned as racist if the tables were turned, for example. Miguel Estrada is more than qualified for the position, even being ranked as 'unanimously well qualified' by even the liberal American Bar Association. However, Daschle's delay on Estrada goes beyond even crude racism: Daschle needs to prevent the Republicans from elevating any more minorities to the Supreme Court. It's racism combined with partisan political maneuvering. Democrats were appalled that Reagan "got credit" for putting the first woman on the Supreme Court, and their current plan to woo Hispanics as their new "number one minority" require that a Democrat appoint the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court, not George W. Bush.

One might counter that the Democrats are supposedly the champions of minorities in the United States. Well, only if they are fellow Democrats. Female Republicans are derisively called female "impersonators", black Republicans are called "Uncle Toms" and, as can be seen with the filibuster of Estrada, Republican Hispanics are called "surname Hispanics", as in Hispanics only in name, as the Miguel Estrada controversy has demonstrated.

Daschle stoops even lower with the budget. His political partisanship is so severe that he is willing to obstruct a wartime budget. In addition, he seeks to roll back Republican tax cuts—claiming that only the rich benefit. Daschle, of course, wants everyone to forget the lowest brackets are already reduced and that all taxpayers received benefits from the tax rate reductions in 2001 (through rebates) and since then with the lower tax rates.

After gaining power in 2000, Daschle's goal was to make the Republicans look bad enough to elect an actual majority of Democrats in the House and Senate. His ultimate goal, of course, is to make progress nearly impossible. He did his best, blocking Republican proposals for as long as possible, while other Democrats whined about the lack o progress on such matters as the Homeland Security bill and reform of the financial community. His new goal is to try to do the same for the 2004 election cycle. In normal times this might be dismissed as extreme partisanship, simply an aberration in the usual political give and take in Washington. In wartime, however, it borders on treason.

Daschle's tactics reveal that he and almost every other Democrat have realized that their party is devoid of new ideas. That Democrats believe the only way they can win is to try and make the Republicans look as bad as possible. This is not winning by being your best. This is not competition that makes everyone better in the end. This is simply trying to win by tearing your opposition down to your level—the politics of personal destruction writ large. The sad thing is that Daschle and the other obstructionist Democrats have not learned from their defeat in 2002. The people of America do not want to choose the lesser of two evils. The people of America want to choose between the better of two future Americas.

A party as poll-driven as the Democrat Party should be able to read the writing on the wall. Since hitting a high of near 60% approval in 1998, the Democrats have seen a steady decline since then. Their approval rating now hovers near 40%. Obviously, the people of America know what is good for them—and for the country—and it is not what Tom Daschle is trying to sell them.

Daschle seems determined to obstruct Senate business more than ever since he has again been relegated to the role of minority leader.

One might counter that the Democrats are supposedly the champion of minorities in the United States. Well, only if they are fellow Democrats

Daschle, of course, wants everyone to forget the lowest brackets have already been cut....

His ultimate goal, of course, is to make progress nearly impossible.