Third Way

Scroll to Info & Navigation

Unity Has Failed

By Bill Schneider

Can President Obama get re-elected the same way President Bush did in 2004? The recall election in Wisconsin on Tuesday will give us a pretty good idea.

Bush got re-elected with a base strategy. He rallied conservatives with an “us versus them” campaign. Republicans demonized John Kerry and tried to discredit Democrats as soft on terrorism. It was an intensely divisive campaign that embittered the electorate.

The result was to drive up turnout, not just of conservatives, but also of liberals who were enraged by the Bush campaign. The strategy worked in 2004, but just barely. Bush got re-elected with 50.7% of the vote.

Read more

Afghanistan: Understanding the Administration’s Transition Strategy

The exit from Afghanistan is underway, but the debate continues over whether it’s moving too slowly, too quickly, or just about right. President Obama has charted a responsible path to ending our combat role in Afghanistan while maintaining our ability to eliminate future threats. Why?

In our newest digest, we explain:

  • Why the President’s transition plan is ending the combat mission as quickly as is logistically possible;
  • Why a faster withdrawal timeline could imperil U.S. security interests;
  • Why making our objective a Taliban surrender could extend the U.S. combat mission by decades; and
  • How the current plan and security agreement provides for U.S. security interests going forward.

In Writing CleanTech’s Obituary, is Washington Writing Our Country’s?

Whether it’s major Capitol Hill media Web sites or Congressional hearings, many in Washington seem consumed these days by the question of whether the clean technology sector is viable. The real issue is not whether solar, wind, biofuels or other cleantech will succeed. They will not only succeed; globally, these new technologies will come to dominate the power sector on a long-term basis. The issue is whether the U.S. will lead or follow and whether the jobs and economic growth represented by these industries will be here or elsewhere.

Read more

Fuel Costs Squeeze Defense Budget

The Department of Defense is the largest consumer of liquid fuels in the world, and as this digest makes plain, its fuel costs are rising at an alarming rate.

Fuel efficiency is a national security priority. Without it, DOD will spend an ever-increasing percentage of its budget on fuel at the expense of other priorities. In this digest, we:

  • Outline the fiscal challenges to DOD posed by rising fuel costs; and
  • Identify solutions that can help the Department cut fuel consumption while preserving, and even enhancing, mission capability.

Given the stakes, Congress should use its budgetary and oversight functions to ensure that the Pentagon is proceeding aggressively with an effort to cut its consumption of fuel.

Who’s the Boss?

By Bill Schneider


Will Mitt Romney or the Republicans in Congress define the Republican message this year? That’s a big problem for the Romney campaign. It’s beginning to look like congressional Republicans want to put Romney in office so he can sign off on the Tea Party agenda — their agenda, not his.

“We’re not a cheerleading squad,” a freshman House Republican told The New York Times. “We’re the conductor. We’re supposed to drive the train.”

No, they’re not. The party’s presidential candidate is supposed to drive the train. He’s the leader. Congressional Republicans are supposed to be the followers. And, yes, the cheerleading squad. If Romney can’t establish preeminence over his own party, how can he lead the country? Or the world?

Read more

Cut Medical Mistakes in Half by 2017 to Save Lives and Money

By David B. Kendall

Malpractice liability plays only a limited and inconsistent role in doing what it should: giving doctors an incentive to practice safely.

saddoctor-615.jpg
Medical mistakes are dangerous, costly, and often hidden until it’s too late. Patients do their best not to think about them, because of their need to trust in their doctors. Who wants to study a surgeon’s error rates right before going under the knife? For their part, doctors don’t like to admit they erred, especially when they might get sued. But a culture that avoids confronting mistakes will only perpetuate them.

Medical leaders and patient groups have made some progress reducing one type of error: infections contracted in hospitals. Organizations like the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and medical schools like Johns Hopkins University have engaged and educated doctors and nurses about preventing these infections. Consumers Union and other patient groups have won enactment of legislation in 30 states to require hospitals to report how often their patients contract a preventable infection. Congress has provided funds for additional infection reporting in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As a result of all of this effort, infection rates are declining. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found declines of as much as 58 percent for various hospital infections over the last several years.

However, there remain a  vast number of safety problems in desperate need of improvement.

Read more

4 Senators Propose Easing Visa Limits for Highly Skilled

By JONATHAN WEISMAN

A bipartisan group of four senators proposed on Tuesday easing visa limits for highly skilled immigrants and foreign students, a move that challenges Congressional leaders on their fixed positions on the issue of immigration during an election year.

Two Democrats, Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Chris Coons of Delaware, and two Republicans, Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Jerry Moran of Kansas, introduced the legislation, which is a break for both parties. Democrats have traditionally held highly skilled worker visas as a bargaining chip for measures on lower-skilled immigrants that are far less politically popular. Many Republicans have opposed any expansion of visas.

Read more

MODERATES MATTER: During the past 9 presidential elections—since 1976—moderates have composed an average 48% of the electorate. Clearly, the influence of moderate voters cannot be overstated, especially for Democratic candidates, who start with a smaller liberal base. For Democrats in the Senate battleground states, winning a moderate majority is necessary for victory, and for many, a mere majority isn’t sufficient to carry the day. Read the full report: “Senate Battlegrounds: Democrats Need a Moderate Majority” 

MODERATES MATTER: During the past 9 presidential elections—since 1976—moderates have composed an average 48% of the electorate. Clearly, the influence of moderate voters cannot be overstated, especially for Democratic candidates, who start with a smaller liberal base.

For Democrats in the Senate battleground states, winning a moderate majority is necessary for victory, and for many, a mere majority isn’t sufficient to carry the day.

Read the full report: “Senate Battlegrounds: Democrats Need a Moderate Majority” 

Fire Sale: The End of American Ownership of Clean Energy

With Congress seeming to have abandoned the clean energy sector, American companies are fighting for capital, and survival. Others are moving in.

Third Way has found that this capital hole is beginning to be filled by funds from outside the United States. Chinese investment in the U.S. market jumped 130% in 2011 and a French company took control of the second-largest U.S. solar panel maker.

Foreign investment in American clean energy is a great sign for the sector, jobs, and tax revenues. We support it. But we do not want the U.S to lose entirely our leadership in the clean energy sector and see domestic companies competing in a $2.3 trillion global market disappear.

Five myths about independent voters

By Linda Killian, The Washington Post

1. Independent voters aren’t really independent.

Perhaps the biggest myth about independents is that they are closet partisans or “leaners” who are independent in name only but regularly vote with one party. True, about half of independents do fit into this category, but the rest are truly independent; their allegiance swings from election to election. They are persuadable, not polarized partisans. A recent Pew Research Center poll puts the number of swing voters this year at 23 percent — almost a quarter of the electorate.

In 2006 independents chose Democratic House candidates over Republicans, 57 to 39 percent. But in 2008, Democrats won independent voters by only eight points and lost them by 19 points in 2010. With that kind of track record, it is impossible to say that independent voters are reliably partisan.

Read more

Study: Democrats Must Win Moderates to Hold Senate

By David M. Drucker, Roll Call

In a study that could annoy Democrats and perturb proponents of the “base election” theory, a centrist Democratic think tank is arguing that its party’s hold on the Senate hinges on political “moderates.”

Third Way, in a report set for release today, asserts not only that ideological moderates will determine control of the Senate in November, but that Democrats need to win more of these voters in 10 states with tossup Senate contests than do the Republicans. The think tank crunched exit polling data from recent presidential and midterm elections and concluded that Democrats face a significant challenge in their bid to retain their thin, four-seat Senate majority.

“Crucially for Democrats, they must garner a majority of moderates in nine of 10 toss-ups to win, and in seven of those the bar is even higher — Democrats must clear 60 percent [of moderates] to win,” Third Way policy advisers Michelle Diggles and Lanae Erickson write in the think tank’s report.

Read more

[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Watch Third Way’s Lanae Erickson on CNN talking about Rev. Wright and Moderate voters.