Evening star., 1955-02-06
Presidents S Opposition
Seen Caught in TongIe
Writer Suys Democrats Fail
In Portison Endeuvor
By Frank r. Kent


BY Frank R. Kent
With q few exceptions, such as Sena-
tor George Of Georgia and Senator
Byrd of Virginia, Democratic politicians
in Congress are not at all happy about
the position In which they find them
selves, Right after the election last
November. they rejoiced In what they
construed as a great victory. They had
regained control Of Congress and were
all frightened up over the prospect OF
electing q President in 1856.
But in the past three months this
prospect has lost its brightness At the
moment they do not appear to know
exactly what to do with their 1855 con-
troll" and are somewhat dispirited about
the 1856 outlook. The reason is clear.
Instead of the Presidents popularity
diminishing with the election returns.
the polls, both public and private, show
it to have increased. Recent critical
developments in the Formosa situation
have demonstrated that the country is
with the President to degree that
makes it politically dangerous to oppose
him on foreign policy. The vote on the
Formosa resolution last week was about
as unanimous as it is possible to get.
Senator LANCER Of North Dakota. Sena-
tor Lehman Of New York and the cham
pion Senate bore, Senator Morse OF
oregon, were the only dissenters.
X
Clearly, that vote suited the country
and, clearly, so long as the interna-
tional situation remains as critical as
now-and/ 1t seems very critical. in
deed-Gen. Ike" is going to have
the overwhelming support of House
and Senate. The Democratic leaders
do not suffer over giving him that
support There isn't anything else to
do and they will continue to follow
his leadership in the foreign field.
-partiSanship politically is the
smart thing. There Is nothing to lose
and quite a lot to gain. It Is IN the
domestic field that the Democratic
politicians face their more difncult
problems. Naturally, they do not want
the President reelected. Therefore,
they do not want to see him get
through this Congress what he can
defend as a constructive and progress
sive" program.
Yet it is generally conceded that
is the kind of program he has pre-
sented, and unless the Democrats can
show that it is either unsound or
political or both, they will have con-
siderable difficulty in opposing it. So
far they have not been successful in
their indictment-which is what wor-
ries them. Opposition to sound pro-
posal for obvious political reasons Is
not profitable to men seeking votes.
OF course, If they could catch Ike"
playing shoddy politics they could
extricate themselves from this pre-
.dicament. The trouble is that Gen.
like" does not play that kind Of poll
tics and his non partisanship in these
matters is pretty close to 100 per cent
genuine.
This-to repeat-makes it incumbent
upon his opponents to show that his
program is either inadequate or that
he Is not seeking the general good.
Neither of those things has yet been
charged except by concededly embit-
tered men with personal grievances.
But that does not mean the Democrats
are not trying. Already they are lining
up In both House and Senate to wreck
Mr.. Eisenhower's fiscal program by
cutting personal income taxes against
the recommendations of both the Presi-
dent and Secretary Humphrey. No one
can look the financial facts squarely in
the face and contend that that should
be done this year. The more candid
Democrats in Congress admit this pri-
vately but say they don't want to give
the President chance to do it, him
self, in an election year.
On the Dixon-Yates contract, on the
Summerfield proposal to raise postal
rates, on the Army cuts in the budget.
on a variety Of other things the DEM
ocrats will fight to prevent the Eisen-
hover program from going through.
They will not be united in this effort,
but they are sure to have some sue
cess. The thing they want to avoid,
however. is the appearance Of purely
political opposition. In brief, their
purpose Is political but they do not
want it to show too clearly. What
they really want is to make the charge
of politics against the Eisenhower ad-
ministration stick and still, themselves,
appear noble and non political.
But neither Mr.. Stevenson, clearly
eager to be President nor his hand
picked Democratic chairman, nor the
Democratic Digest, nor the garrulous
Morse. nor the overeager Kefauver. nor
the old New Deal columnists, nor the
owlish Douglas of Illinois, have so far
been able to make Gen. like" look like
a politician nor his program seem po-
litical. Perhaps they may yet find q
way. but until they do the sniping now
going on and the attacks being planned
will be largely futile.