Don't think based on the title of this post that a non-governing Congress is necessarily a bad thing, but the recent rout of Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) by Cindy Sheehan demonstrates exactly why the Democrats won't be able to get much done during their tenure in power.

House Democratic leaders were giving their first news conference of the year when the session in the Cannon building was hijacked by Cindy Sheehan and other antiwar demonstrators, some wearing tie-dyed apparel and pins comparing President Bush to Adolf Hitler. Just after Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) vowed, "We're gonna cut the interest rate in half for student loans," hecklers began to chant "De-escalate! Investigate! Troops home now!"

"That is exactly what we're talking about," Emanuel said, trying to appease the protesters. But the hecklers kept chanting, and he fled.

The Democratic leaders in retreat, Sheehan seized the microphone. "We put them back in power," she said of the Democrats. Passing out fliers calling for defunding the Iraq war, Sheehan shouted: "These are our demands. And they're not requests -- they're demands."

The biggest problem with the Democrat party is that their tent became so broad that they had to sacrifice depth. The party is little more than a conglomeration of tiny interest groups who share little in common except their hatred for religion, wealth, liberty, and President Bush.

Sheehan is right: she and her ilk did put the Democrats in power. Now that the Democrats used her to attain power, will they be able to keep their power and use it without kowtowing to the people they represent? If you want to get reelected, you've got to "dance with the one what brung ya", no matter how repulsive she is.

So what can the Democrats do? If they want to win the presidency in 2008, their best bet is to do as little as possible. Emanuel didn't confront Sheehan on her lunacy because she is his base, but he couldn't stay and be associated with her because he's really proud of the job he did orchestrating the Democrat's victory in 2004 and he'd like to keep building his political career. So he did the only thing he could: he ran away.

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