Democrats' 'baby steps' frustrate party loyalists

WASHINGTON -- For some of the Democratic party's loyal supporters, this is turning out to be a summer of discontent.

In recent weeks, a prominent anti-war activist announced plans to challenge Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Four major Hispanic organizations protested the "mixed message" on immigration from congressional Democrats. Even a Democratic senator blamed his party for "giving in" on a key privacy issue.

Last November's election gave Democrats control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994. But some of the party's key constituencies are having a hard time understanding why the sweeping changes they anticipated have been so slow in coming.

"We did our job as citizens," said Dana Balicki, a spokeswoman for the anti-war protest group CodePink She qualified Congress' efforts to reverse President Bush's Iraq policy as "baby steps."

Political science experts, including Jack Pitney, a professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, say the party's track record is not surprising given that its margin of control is narrow and its caucus prone to splitting along regional and ideological lines. Pitney thinks party leaders are victims of their own hype.

"They raised a lot of expectations, but it was never in the cards they could bring about revolutionary change," he said. "They have a narrow majority and a president of the other party."

The limits of the party's power were vividly on display as the House and Senate rushed to wrap up legislation before leaving for a month-long August recess. The votes of centrist Democrats helped the president win expanded wiretapping authority. They also cleared the way for a Senate vote on a judicial nominee whose rulings have angered gay rights advocates.

More splits in Democratic ranks loom in September.

A report from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, will renew debate over war policy. Some conservative Democrats, such as Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, have voted against setting a date for troop withdrawal.