A Political Blueprint With Room to Build On

For instance, the GOP's prescription drug benefit was the product of pure hackery, the authors say. The bill covers most of the initial cost of medicines for a year to lull seniors into quietude, then drops them into a "doughnut hole" with no coverage, before kicking back in after out-of-pocket expenses reach $3,600. To make matters worse, the authors say, the drug legislation prohibits the federal government from using its buying power to negotiate prices with the drug companies.

True enough, but anyone who knows House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) would have a difficult time seeing one of the smartest and most experienced men in Congress as simply a political hack. For better or for worse, Thomas thought pitting private insurance companies against one another would inject competition into the drug market for seniors and keep the price of drugs down, without the heavy hand of government.

You may hate the prescription drug bill, as many Democrats -- and many Republicans -- do, but was it really the product of political expedience?

The better case Emanuel and Reed make is this: The United States faces problems of immense magnitude: global warming; nearly 47 million people without health insurance; a retiring generation of baby boomers without enough savings -- and with enough numbers to bankrupt the Medicare and Social Security systems. A party that does not believe in government intervention may be philosophically incapable of confronting such ills.

So what does the party that does want to do? Three months of mandatory basic civil defense training and community service, for starters.

Compared with the congressional inactivity of the past few years, Emanuel and Reed's Eight-Point Plan may seem ambitious, but it does not measure up to the tasks at hand, as identified by the authors themselves.

Save Social Security for generations to come? Well, no, but employers should be required to offer 401(k) plans, and employees should be automatically enrolled, unless they choose to opt out. Revive Clinton's first-term dream of universal health care? Well, no, but would you settle for making sure his second-term achievement, the children's health insurance program, truly does cover all children?

A detailed plan to balance the budget? How about the reinstitution of lapsed budget rules that mandate any future tax cuts or spending increases be offset by equal tax hikes and/or spending cuts? Global warming? How about lots of hybrid cars?

One of "The Plan's" loftiest ideas -- universal college access, financed by a $3,000-a-year refundable tax credit and tuition grants -- leaves readers wondering what taxes will be raised or programs will be cut to pay for it. Another idea, a simplified tax system more favorable to the wage-earning middle class, is a wonk's dream, but it may leave a hack cold, and hacks are useful for getting the wonks elected.

To those who agree that government is a necessary part of society, none of these ideas are bad. They certainly cannot be dismissed as political pie in the sky. But "The Plan" reads more like a blueprint for a narrow Democratic majority looking for legislative beachheads before the 2008 election than what the book says it is: "A map to the challenges of a new era."

Then again, as Clinton might have said, first things first. Midterm elections are two months away, and hackery does have its purposes.

Weisman covers Congress for The Washington Post.