Left resentful

They contend, for example, that the healthcare reform bill approved by the House was shaped to attract votes from middle-of-the-road and conservative Democrats.

{mosads}They have a good point.

Anti-abortion rights language was added to the bill as an amendment at the eleventh hour, infuriating some Democrats.

Earlier, a “robust public option” favored by liberals was discarded in favor of a more centrist option. And a single-payer healthcare bill was never really considered.

But House leadership lawmakers and White House officials needed to make changes to the bill because they were short on votes.

And liberals, despite their protests about abortion language and a robust public option, voted en masse for the House bill.

Liberals were miffed when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected the notion that left-leaning lawmakers were going to vote against healthcare reform. At the time, she said, “Are you asking me are progressives going to vote against universal, quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans? No way.” The best vote-counter in the House was dead on.

Of the 39 Democrats to vote against the bill, only one, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), is a liberal, and he was undecided until the eleventh hour.

Similarly, most of the Democrats’ 44 “no” votes on the House climate bill came from centrists.

Liberals are penalized for being team players, while centrists (many of whom are being targeted by the GOP in the 2010 cycle) have more leverage because their threats to vote “no” are taken much more seriously.

Democrats face a dilemma: They need to fire up their base for the midterm elections, but if they move too far left, they could endanger many vulnerable incumbents.

Much of the Democrats’ base is unhappy with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the troop surge in Afghanistan and White House reluctance to insist on a public healthcare option.

An enthusiastic base is crucial to midterm election prospects. In 2006, the GOP base stayed home and Republicans lost the House and Senate.

In his Wednesday column in The Hill, Markos Moulitsas cites recent polling showing that 81 percent of Republican respondents are definitely or probably going to vote in 2010, compared to only 56 percent of Democrats. Only 14 percent of Republicans say they are definitely or not likely to vote; the Democrats’ corresponding percentage was an astounding 40.

The 2010 election is a long way off, but Democrats probably need to re-energize their base during the next 11 months if they are to avoid a drubbing.