What Specter *Should* Have Been Saying (and where was Biden?)
With a bad reputation for faithlessness you can read about anywhere, Specter should have been providing assurance to Senators who were already miffed to be asked to step aside in seniority.
Instead, he was poking them in the eye with a sharp stick! This was Biden's initiative -- did they ever have a come-to-Jesus phone call in the light of Specter's increasingly bizarre remarks?
Here's what the now-junior Senator could have been saying: "While anyone may have differences from time to time, of course I am a loyal Democrat. I'm on a new team now, a team that is generating a lot of excitment, has already shown results, and I'm truly delighted to be here. I am determined to make this work with my fellow Democrats and with our President."
No one except Specter thought his "independent" streak was any great asset -- he indeed seemed to harbor delusions of grandeur.
Senators seems to hold a country club attitude toward each other. Civility is one thing, but the close personal loyalties which apparently develop are unhealthy, IMO. A senator's loyalty should lie fully with those who elected him/her. That problem seems particularly apparent with long time senators, such as Biden and Specter.
Whether Specter's switch to the Democrats is ultimately useful to anyone other than Specter will not become known until the Republicans mount a filibuster on some issue. I really don't care how Specter votes on any particular Bill, I only care whether he helps to prevent the GOP from blocking an up/down vote on Bills. Given all of the Democratic "eye poking" Specter has done in the just past couple of days, if he proves unreliable on even ONE cloture vote the entire Democrats party should descend upon him like a wolf-pack and rip out his political throat.
May 6, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I disagree with this:
In fact, that was George Bush's stated belief; that he was only there for republicans, rather than for all the citizens of the country. Senators also should, IMO be loyal to the citizens of their state, but also to the entire country's citizens because that is the job they are there to do.
The idea that they only "owe" people who voted for them (and the donors who made it all possible) is a big part of the problem, and one that isn't going away.
May 6, 2009 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are inferring too much in to what I said, although, I probably could have been a bit more precise by having said, "their loyalties should lie with their electorate/constituents".
Each elected representative is supposed to REPRESENT the interests of the constituency which elected them. That's the whole point of a representative democracy. Of course, they "owe" those who elected them. I submit, that most problems come to be when elected representatives begin substituting their own will for that of their constituents. Good policy making and law are presumed to come about precisely by having a sufficiently large number of such representatives vote in the congressional bodies. In fact, such is they basis of our entire system of self-government. It's what makes the government legitimate, and it's what enables the collective intelligence of the people to be made manifest.
Yes, there is room for individual judgment by our elected representatives, otherwise we could just have a government by plebiscite, but senators and congressmen run the risk of both becoming non-representative, and of substituting the wisdom of one person (themselves) for the wisdom of many (their constituents).
May 6, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
They already mau-maued him pretty badly, I'd say.
Tough love for Arlen!! They obviously don't much like him, and have no further tolerance for his shit.
They have a point: you want seniority as a Democrat? Act like a senior Democrat and we'll consider it later on, now that you've pissed all over your initial chances.
Biden's his good buddy -- you're obviously right about that and right to question what we get out of their relationship.
May 6, 2009 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
...And it was at this point in our discussion, that Senator Reid put a whole new spin on the curious espisode! :)
May 6, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink