Evening star., 1954-05-23
Democrats Share Blome
For Delays in Congress
Writer Says Pcrtisuns Find
Unjust Fault With Eisenhower
By,Frcnk r. Kent

lSSs 0SsN WIN htSSUuVWSI
By .Fronk r. Kent
The trenchant comment has been
made Q number of times that the real
cause Of President Eisenhower's troubles
is the fact that the voters who elected
him so overwhelmingly in 1852 did not
realize the terrible handicap they were
imposing on the man Of their choice
when they failed to provide him with O
workable majority In Congress.
The majority was so slender that It
has now wholly disappeared in the
Senate and been whitfield down almost
to the vanishing point In the House.
This situation practically nullifies the
power Of the President to put through
really constructive program such as he
promised and such as he has submitted
to Congress. Under these conditions
andsin the national interests. 1t would
seem that the Democrats In Congress
might support such Of Gen. Ike's pro-
posals as appear sound. Certainly that
was the Eisenhower hope and the rea-
son 50 many Of the measures he has
asked Congress to pass were 20 drawn
as to make 1t easy for those in Con-
gress who want to vote on the merits Of
pending bills to support them.
4
When this program was first sent to
Congress and explained by the Presi-
dent over the air, the editorial comment
from Democratic as well as Republican
papers was almost unanimously favor
able Among the politicians there nat
urally was some dissent as to details.
and from the bilious and bitter Senator
Morse Of Oregon, general dissent as to
everything. But, in the main, the pro-
gram met with general public approval
and even among the disSenters there
has been no allegation that there was
any partisan flavor or personal politics
about 1t. Just minimum Of Demo-
cratic votes would have been enough
to put 1t through.
It still is-but that minimum will
not be forthcoming If the Democratic
leadership in and out of Congress
can help 1t. This is an election year.
and election years are not Auspicious
periods for the consideration Of any
thing on its merits. The Democratic
leadership has made that exceedingly
plain in the last few weeks. in his
SNUG and hypocritical way, Mr.. Tru-
man patronizingly has explained that
he does not want to add to the Presi-
dents burdens. Yet he has adopted q
form Of criticism well calculated to
do exactly that. The jocular Adlai
Stevenson, who often talks like q
noppartisan. does precisely the same
thing. AS for Lyndon johnson. the
Senate Democratic leader. once the
Texas primaries were over. he threw
aside all pretense Of nonpartisanship
and, in accord with the labor boss
pressure, proceeded to line UP the
Democrats In solid opposition to the
Administration amendments to the
Taft-Hartley law.
All Of this is supplemented by the
Democratic National Committee and
CIO publicity. plus the frantic efforts
the New Deal-left wing columnists
and commentators to belittle the
President None Of these flnd good in
anything Ike has done or proposed.
They below loud demands that he
assert his leadership" but when he
does assert his leadership" they howl
that he has done it in the wrong way
and at the wrong time. They keep on
vehemently declaring that he fears"
Mccarthy, utterly ignoring the many
times in which he has made 1t clear
that he is utterly opposed to Nc
Carthy, his manners and his methods.
No matter what he does and says.
they bleat about his lack Of courage
and character, depict him as be-
wildered and confused.
The complete falsity of this picture
is too obvious to make much Of pub
lie impression, but that does not pre-
vent the Democratic leadership from
painting 1t with tireless ardor and
many brushes Those in position to
know say that Gen. Ike does not mind
the Democratic-C -CIO propaganda. the
attacks of the columnists nor the
Truman-Stevenson speeches. largely
because-unless there Is some special
reason-he does not read them. What
he does mind is the delay in getting
action on his program. With no de-
pendable majority in either branch
the outlook is not too good, although
some progress has been made and
some administration measures passed.
Before the session Is over there Is
reason to believe Gen. Ike. will
put on all the pressure ne can. includ-
ing direct appeals to the people. in an
effort to get action. OF course. what
the Democrats are doing is natural
though not admirable. Enactment OF
q strong Eisenhower program undoubt-
edly will diminish their chances OF
gaining control of the Congress this
November and Of the presidency In
1856. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to
think that the voters who put Ike in
the White House may not look with
favor on members who, for partisan