Most Americans aren't terribly familiar with Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the senior Democratic senator from Nevada and the leader of a slim Democratic majority in the Senate. And he prefers it that way.
Reid is a creature of the Senate: soft spoken, bespectacled and knowledgeable of even the most arcane quirks of parliamentary rules. As you might expect, he's not the most electrifying speaker.
But the Democrats, lacking a unifying figurehead, have had to make do with a hodgepodge of lesser lights: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean and a handful of presidential candidates.
So sometimes Reid is pulled from his rulebooks and vote tallies to appear on "Meet the Press" or "Face the Nation." You can't be the top man in the Senate and not be expected to make a pitch to the public every once in a while. Fortunately for the Democratic Party, these appearances are quick and infrequent and can be washed down with whatever impressive feat of oratory Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has pulled out of his hat lately. The Democrats gave Reid the reins of power in the Senate for an entirely different reason: his ability to work the cloakrooms and exploit quirks of Senate procedure to further their legislative goals.
In this, the majority leader has mostly been a success. He has pushed through a contentious hike in the minimum wage (which hadn't seen the light of day for 10 years), made strides on energy policy (including a requirement that 15 percent of the U.S. energy portfolio come from renewable fuels and that cars average 35 miles per gallon by 2020) and made a laughingstock of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (while exposing a politically damaging U.S. Attorney scandal).
Impressively, he has done this with a razor-thin 51-49 margin of Democrats to Republicans. Senators are notoriously stubborn and hard to keep together; former Majority Leader Trent Lott likened his job to "herding cats." Reid seems to have kept most of his cats in line.
The majority leader flexed his muscles most prominently last month when he flatly declared "Ted Olson will not be confirmed" as attorney general. Olson's name was floated as a trial balloon by the White House, which needs a new attorney general following Gonzales' resignation.
Following Reid's declaration, Bush picked Mike Mukasey, a relatively inoffensive outsider, for the attorney general spot. Mukasey had previously been mentioned by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Reid's most tenacious pit bull, as an acceptable nominee. It is a sign of how much the balance of power has shifted in Washington that Reid has, to an extent, veto power over Bush cabinet appointees.
Yet for all his tenacity, Reid still stumbles occasionally. His ill-advised declaration that "The war is lost" hurt his party as it was still battling charges of defeatism on Iraq. He made common cause with President Bush, of all people, in attempting to push immigration reform through the Senate and faced defeat when his carefully constructed coalition fell to pieces amid cries of "Amnesty!" from a dedicated band of hardliners.
And for all the talk of how the Democrats were going to change direction on Iraq, presidential control of troop levels there has been as firm as ever. This impotence on Iraq should worry Reid.
Angering Republicans is fine for a Democratic chief. But the growing impatience of Democratic activists with his inability to challenge Bush successfully on Iraq spells trouble. For many in the party, all of Reid's other accomplishments pale in comparison with his powerlessness on this signature issue.
Michael Sherry is a junior majoring in poltical science. He can be reached at michael.sherry@tufts.edu.
