Signs of the Times

A week ago tonight four august figures--Adlai Stevenson, Harry Truman, Foster Furcolo, and the spirit of Alben Barkley (represented by Mrs. Barkley)--gathered together, and held what might be called a minstrel show. Its purposes were twofold: to help pay Democratic campaign deficits and, in passing, to give Eisenhower a few licks. We don't really object to either of these enterprises, but we were a bit horrified at how the whole thing came off. None of the august personages (except perhaps Truman) seemed very easy about throwing bottles at the President-umpire. Perhaps it was merely that the Democrats had lost their sense of humor since the election. Perhaps Eisenhower's stolid solidity is just not open to attacks of garrulity. But to us the proceedings expressed the utter hopelessness and isolation of the idealistic icing of the Party.

And well might these (unseated) knights-errant despair at the running-amuck of their Congressional charges, for on the budget issue, the behavior of a large segment of the Democrats in Congress has been disgraceful. Perhaps the actions of Lyndon Johnson and the Southern Democrats might have been predicted as easily as those of Knowland and the hard-shell Republicans. But in following his conservative Texan instincts, Johnson has punched holes in one of the more important Democratic balloons--that is, its representation of itself as the party of idealism. Cynics will maintain that very few people vote Democratic for reasons of ideals--we all pride ourselves on being hard-headed and practical. But to a great many people Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman (yes, call them balloons) have meant something. and this something, though intangible, is politically important. At the moment, this something seems to be in the hands of the Ike-Republicans--Case, Javits, etc.--and this includes Richard Nixon. Perhaps the Congressional Democrats have realized that responsibility for Democratic programs cannnot be blithely cast off without political loss. Perhaps this explains Rayburn and Johnson in their "respectable" about-faces. These turn-abouts cannot be taken too seriously, however--they probably represent only a rapid calculation of a turning tide on the issue of national defense. They do not increase the likelihood of a hardy school construction program or of an adequate UIA. The hot air of the democratic idealist seems doomed to escape with a rather unseemly phfft for at least the next few years.