How Will Democratic-Led Congress Impact Your Wallet?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," November 8, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.
JOHN GIBSON, HOST: Back to our big post-election day stories: The blue wave of the Democratic Party gains control of the House now. And under a lot of pressure, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has now handed in his resignation. It looks like Democrats have a lot of work to do now.
So what is their game plan? Let's ask Democratic strategist and former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}So congratulations to the Democrats.
JOE TRIPPI, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thanks.
GIBSON: They took the field. Now you actually have to do it. No more complaining, right?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TRIPPI: No. We got to do — look, I think the president hopefully got the message that people want change. And if he did, then you're going to see — he's going to find out that Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Reid will work with him to find bipartisan solutions in Iraq and other places.
GIBSON: Let's look at the Democrats' to-do list.
TRIPPI: Yes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GIBSON: The list will pop up here on the screen.
The war in Iraq: What will the Democrats want done?
TRIPPI: Again, I think it's — the president calls the shots here. The only thing Congress can do is stop the money, which we won't do. So it will be putting pressure on the president, working with him, trying to work for a bipartisan solution.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There's several out there, everywhere from Joe Biden's partition plan to Congressman Murtha's plan for redeployment, and several others. So it's really just working with the president. If the president wants to work with Democrats, he's going to find that there's a bipartisan support. The people want change, and there's bipartisan support to get out.
GIBSON: Take a look at the next item on this list: accountability. You hear that from everybody from Rahm Emanuel to, well, you. That means hearings and investigating the Bush administration, doesn't it?
TRIPPI: I think hearings, yes. I'm not sure investigations are likely at this point, unless the president just didn't get the message last night.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I mean, that's the whole thing. If he didn't get the message, then there's going to be hell to pay, not just in terms of accountability now but in terms of John McCain and anybody looking for 2008. There's going to be a lot more Republicans go out the window in 2008 than went out yesterday if they didn't get the message here that it's time to start working together and solve the problem. People want change.
GIBSON: The next item is the economy. Nancy Pelosi has said minimum wage goes up. What about taxes?
TRIPPI: I think there's going to be tax relief, hopefully, for the middle class. That's where taxes are. If there are going to be tax hikes, it's going to be on a lot of the rich friends that the Republicans protect.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GIBSON: What do Democrats define rich as these days?
TRIPPI: Well, we'll see what that works out to, but it's going to be very high, one percent, two percent of the population.
GIBSON: All right. Let me show you this one. This is meet the new speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Now, what is she? Is she a liberal, or is she claiming to be a centrist?
TRIPPI: No. I think Nancy Pelosi is a strong progressive. And I think what she's not, though, is she's not a dictator. She's somebody who governs through consensus. So her thing is going to be about building consensus within the Democratic caucus, which is going to be more moderate than she is.
GIBSON: But Joe, you're the one who created the netroots. You're the one who...
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TRIPPI: Well, I didn't create them. They were out there.
GIBSON: Well, let's give you a little credit here, OK?
These people — and I read this stuff that goes on on these blogs — they're angry. They've been angry at Bush for a long time. They're claiming credit for this election.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}If they come to Washington wanting accountability in the form of subpoenas and pre-impeachment hearings and they want taxes raised, can Nancy Pelosi, the centrist, really deny the people who gave her her majority?
TRIPPI: Well, I mean, there are a lot of people who worked hard for this majority. A lot of people. And the netroots were very instrumental in getting a lot of these candidates to the fore and in winning.
But her job now is to build the consensus. And that's going to be very difficult, given how varied and divergent the Democratic Party is. I mean, there are a lot of blue dogs that got elected yesterday, as well as progressives that the netroots will like.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}So it's going to be her job to pull those people together. She'll govern with consensus and help solve the problems by working with the administration, if the president wants to do that.
GIBSON: The Democrats' secret weapon, Joe Trippi. Joe, it's good to see you. Thank you for coming in.
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