Even A Stopped Clock…
I’ve been pretty pessimistic about the outcome of the election. I think the next two years are going to be gridlock and bickering and I’m just hoping it doesn’t send us back into recession. I’ve also been pessimistic that the lesson Democrats would learn is the predominant media narrative right now – Democrats tried to do too much and were too liberal. I may be wrong, though. Joe Klein (Joke Line) supposed liberal but generally purveyor of D.C. conventional wisdom, writes the following:
Normally, I don’t have much patience for the whining on the left about the Blue Dog democrats–who were sliced in half on Tuesday, losing at least 28 of their 54 seats. When they lose, the Democrats lose control of the Congress. This year, however, I do feel that there is an argument that, to an extent, the Dogs brought this on themselves by being penny-wise, dogpound-foolish. The argument goes like this: a larger stimulus package might have helped the economy recover at a faster clip, but the Dogs opposed it on fiscal responsibility grounds. A second argument: the public really has had it with Wall Street, but the Dogs helped water down the financial regulatory bill, gutting the too-big-to-fail provisions. There is real merit to both points. If the stimulus had been bigger and the financial reform package clearer and stronger, the public would have had a different–and, I believe, more positive–sense of the President’s agenda. (As I write in my print column this week, there is some blame to be shouldered by the Pelosi wing as well, diluting the focus of the stimulus package with a standard Democratic wish list and making the health care reform less market-oriented than it should have been, by moving 16 million people into medicaid.)
The point is, ideological myopia is counter-productive whether it’s found on the left, the right…or the center.
Wow, could it be that Democrats
Tags: Blue Dogs, Democrats, Election 2010
Some Presidents just can’t take yes for an answer.
September 12:
November 5:
Democrat FAIL.
Now the best we can hope for is that Pelosi will come through and deliver two bills that decouple the tax cuts for the rich from the rest of it.
Actually, my preference would be for the Senate to kill whatever comes out of the GOP House. Let them get a taste of their own medicine. If we can’t get the tax package promised by Candidate Obama, Plan B should be to do nothing. Party Of No.
I’d rather take the hit on middle class tax cuts, than let the rich get away with not paying for the hell they have caused.
Carper is the next bluedog Delaware must primary!
The Repubs think this election was a referendum on what Obama did in his first two years, I would argue that it was a referendum on what he didn’t do. Namely, meaningful reform of our financial system.
I would agree, Boxwood, except there is so damn much that, as a result of the previous administration, needs fixing. And there are only so many hours in a day, and with a Republican mandate out to slow things up as much as humanly possible no wonder some things didn’t happen like we’d hoped. But I do agree (especially having just lost my job) that the economy needs serious and immediate attention…before this bunch of naysayers and reformbusters take the oath of office. They need to remember who they work for.
Damn polititians need to sit at the table together and work it the fuck out for the good of all of us.
Pelosi is a polarizing figure. She’s the Newt Gingrich of the left.
How many liberals were sold on the “Contract with America”? I’d guess it would be pretty close to the number of conservatives who were sold on the “Obama Agenda”. (Though I’m not sure Obama actually HAS an agenda. If he does, he’s done a shitty job of implementing it in the last 20 months!)
Note to both sides–The vast majority of American voters live in the middle. The MIDDLE wants nothing more than to raise our children, care for our parents & maybe save a little for our OWN retirement, so we can spend a few years ENJOYING life before we die. Each side loses us when it promotes polarizing figures like Reid, Pelosi, Gingrich, Bohner, etc.
These are the people who inadvertently spawned the TEA Party candidates like COD. I hope you morons are proud of your “accomplishments”. Please excuse me while I rush to the bathroom & purge my dinner.
If Pelosi strikes a40 as “polarizing,” it’s because she (1) has successfully navigated a moderately liberal legislative program; (2) is a woman; and (3) is the target of the same chorus of sneers that the Right pelted at Tom Daschle, Tip O’Neill, John Kerry and other stand-up Democrats.