Democrats and the impotence of power
The one thing that I respect about Republicans -- at it happens to be the only thing I respect about them -- is that they are not afraid to use power. In fact, Republicans are so confident in their ability to use power, they tend to abuse it without a second thought (think Dick Cheney, the "unitary executive", and the shredding of the Constitution over the last eight years.)
Democrats are exactly the opposite. They are either too shamefaced or too fearful of wielding governmental power, to ever really be effective. In fact, they seem to be always looking for permission to use even the authority given to them overwhelmingly (think 2006 and the impeachment of George W. Bush ... oh that's right, there was none.) And the permission they seek is usually from Republicans, and it is usually denied, without the GOP ever having to vocalize the denial (think threatened, but never, ever carried out, filibusters.) What Democrats seem most concerned with, is gaining and holding power, and doing so generally by not using it, which is why they were afraid to impeach George W. Bush and company, and remain terrified of indicting former Bush administration officials, for fear of offending enough voters to lose them their precious gavels, drivers and corner offices.
The Democrats' strange relationship to power is usually a source of annoyance for me, as a member of the party. Right now? It's downright dangerous to the country, which is shedding jobs like a spring spaniel.
By letting Susan Collins of all people, who owes her seat to her ability to hide behind Olympia Snowe at election time and pretend they're both Democrats, to dictate the terms of the economic stimulus plan, and to threaten to walk out if the Cruelle de Ville cuts to programs for all of those horrible old people, poor people and children that she and "Democrat" Ben Nelson foisted on the bill are reintroduced, is the height of idiocy. And the fact that Harry Reid doesn't simply call for an up or down vote and dare Susan, Olympia, Arlen "Blue State" Specter, or one of the eternally wrong and historically lethal southern conservatives to vote against it and then face their voters, or to go ahead and filibuster the bill -- but to do it the old fashioned way, cots and all, proves his weakness and fecklessness (which we knew already, after watching him bow and scrape for Joe Lieberman.) And unfortunately, the seeming obsession with bi-partisanship coming out of the White House, before President Obama finally had enough and started calling a stimulus a stimulus last week, gave Republicans far too much room to run. So now they're running, stomping and peeing and crapping all over what should have been a straightforward, large, potent stimulus bill. As Paul Krugman laments today:
If Democrats were Republicans, they would have announced from the well of the Senate that for every Republican Senator who refuses to back the bill, half of the money intended for their state would be cut out of the final bill, meaning that, for instance, Refuseniks John McCain and John Kyl's Arizona would get nothing.
I mean, where are the infamous head cracking techniques of Rahm Emanuel? I half expected him to be busting windows out of people's cars! What happened to the muscle Joe Biden was gonna employ on the Senate? Where is the vigor that (well, sometimes) marked the campaign's push-back against Republican slime?
I will watch President Obama's live news conference and speech tonight with great anticipation. What I'm looking for, in short, Mr. President? Is more FDR and less "can't we all just get along," because we can't. Republicans believe, fundamentally, in doing nothing, and letting the working stiffs go to hell. That's what you might call their "philosophy." You have the majority of the American people on your side, and the majority is hurting. If you and the Democrats can't deliver, then the "do nothing" Hooverites win. They, after all, believe that there is no emergency, since massive layoffs create cheap labor, and that tanking the economy is just another way to create wealth for those with lots of reserve capitol to spend on deeply discounted, "toxic" (for now) assets. Message: they are not on side, nor are they on ours. So for once, let's give 'em hell.
Democrats are exactly the opposite. They are either too shamefaced or too fearful of wielding governmental power, to ever really be effective. In fact, they seem to be always looking for permission to use even the authority given to them overwhelmingly (think 2006 and the impeachment of George W. Bush ... oh that's right, there was none.) And the permission they seek is usually from Republicans, and it is usually denied, without the GOP ever having to vocalize the denial (think threatened, but never, ever carried out, filibusters.) What Democrats seem most concerned with, is gaining and holding power, and doing so generally by not using it, which is why they were afraid to impeach George W. Bush and company, and remain terrified of indicting former Bush administration officials, for fear of offending enough voters to lose them their precious gavels, drivers and corner offices.
The Democrats' strange relationship to power is usually a source of annoyance for me, as a member of the party. Right now? It's downright dangerous to the country, which is shedding jobs like a spring spaniel.
By letting Susan Collins of all people, who owes her seat to her ability to hide behind Olympia Snowe at election time and pretend they're both Democrats, to dictate the terms of the economic stimulus plan, and to threaten to walk out if the Cruelle de Ville cuts to programs for all of those horrible old people, poor people and children that she and "Democrat" Ben Nelson foisted on the bill are reintroduced, is the height of idiocy. And the fact that Harry Reid doesn't simply call for an up or down vote and dare Susan, Olympia, Arlen "Blue State" Specter, or one of the eternally wrong and historically lethal southern conservatives to vote against it and then face their voters, or to go ahead and filibuster the bill -- but to do it the old fashioned way, cots and all, proves his weakness and fecklessness (which we knew already, after watching him bow and scrape for Joe Lieberman.) And unfortunately, the seeming obsession with bi-partisanship coming out of the White House, before President Obama finally had enough and started calling a stimulus a stimulus last week, gave Republicans far too much room to run. So now they're running, stomping and peeing and crapping all over what should have been a straightforward, large, potent stimulus bill. As Paul Krugman laments today:
Even if the original Obama plan -- around $800 billion in stimulus, with a substantial fraction of that total given over to ineffective tax cuts -- had been enacted, it wouldn't have been enough to fill the looming hole in the U.S. economy, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will amount to $2.9 trillion over the next three years.
Yet the centrists did their best to make the plan weaker and worse.
If Democrats were Republicans, they would have announced from the well of the Senate that for every Republican Senator who refuses to back the bill, half of the money intended for their state would be cut out of the final bill, meaning that, for instance, Refuseniks John McCain and John Kyl's Arizona would get nothing.
I mean, where are the infamous head cracking techniques of Rahm Emanuel? I half expected him to be busting windows out of people's cars! What happened to the muscle Joe Biden was gonna employ on the Senate? Where is the vigor that (well, sometimes) marked the campaign's push-back against Republican slime?
I will watch President Obama's live news conference and speech tonight with great anticipation. What I'm looking for, in short, Mr. President? Is more FDR and less "can't we all just get along," because we can't. Republicans believe, fundamentally, in doing nothing, and letting the working stiffs go to hell. That's what you might call their "philosophy." You have the majority of the American people on your side, and the majority is hurting. If you and the Democrats can't deliver, then the "do nothing" Hooverites win. They, after all, believe that there is no emergency, since massive layoffs create cheap labor, and that tanking the economy is just another way to create wealth for those with lots of reserve capitol to spend on deeply discounted, "toxic" (for now) assets. Message: they are not on side, nor are they on ours. So for once, let's give 'em hell.
