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The Democrats own it all now:
Republican Norm Coleman has conceded to Democrat Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race, ending one of the longest Senate races in American history and clearing the way for Democrats to hold a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate.
That solves all their problems, right? They have the numbers they need. They don't have to cajole or convince any Republicans in order to push through their agenda. Isn't that the case?
Not exactly.
The Democrats proudly call themselves a "big tent" party. The nature of having a "big tent" means that they have diverse views. It will be exceptionally difficult for the Democrats to all agree on an issue or a bill. There are a lot of Democrats from conservative states who will get voted out of office in a heartbeat if they embrace the liberal positions of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. This is the dilemma still facing the Democrats.
With that being said, I'm sure the GOP would be glad to change places with them. It's better to have power than to be impotent and powerless. At this point, the Republican Senators and Congressmen are just bystanders.
The good news for the GOP? They are now just bystanders. Obama and the Democrats have control of everything. If they don't deliver, they get 100% of the blame. The GOP can stand at a distance and rabble-rouse and lob missiles at the Democrats. That's not a noble position to be in, but it's no longer about them. It's all about the Democrats. In the meantime, it'll be interesting to watch Harry Reid as he tries to accomplish the political equivalent of herding cats. If he doesn't succeed in short order, I suspect his cat-herding days will soon be over.
It appears that the dire financial straits aren't having an impact on Congressional travel:
Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.
The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
I hope they enjoy themselves. They deserve those trips after all the hard work they've done to make the nation prosperous. They shouldn't worry about us rubes out here in the hinterlands. We live to serve them and fund their extravagant junkets, right?
It's just too bad that those trips aren't one way. At least that would be a worthy expenditure.
Unless you've been hiding under Iraq (ba dum chhh!!!), you've seen the unrest unfold after the recent election in Iran. I certainly don't think that there will be any meaningful recount of the election results. Nor do I think there will be a new election. For now, Iran is still a country where "might makes right". However, I do believe that this election has been a turning point in Iran. I fully believe that this whole episode will serve as the beginning of the end for the ruling theocracy.
Iran is a country with a young population. Much of that young population has embraced the modern world. They have cell phones and the internet. They want peace and modernity and democracy. Those goals aren't consistent with the goals of the ruling clerics in Iran. Keep in mind that those ruling clerics were the kids out on the streets protesting thirty years ago. Now, they are the targets of the protests from the current batch of young people. Their time did come, but it will soon be gone. It may not happen this year or next year, but it is just a matter of time now. There is too much political and demographic inertia pushing against them for their country to continue on its current path forever.
There's a memorable line from the movie Backdraft that applies particularly well to Iran's outmoded mullahs. Someone should whisper this into Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini's ear:
"You see that flash of light in the corner of your eye? That's your career dissipation light. It just went into high gear."
Obama's prospects for reforming health care took a major hit last week:
The Congressional Budget Office, described as the judge, jury and final arbiter on health care reform, cut the legs out from Sen. Kennedy's health reform plan, one of two that will begin moving through the Senate.
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Despite the recent electoral successes of the Democrats, the US is still very conservative:
Thus far in 2009, 40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004. The 21% calling themselves liberal is in line with findings throughout this decade, but is up from the 1990s.
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Last week, Barack Obama proposed reforms for the financial sector of our economy:
President Barack Obama urged policy makers to rewrite the rules governing U.S. finance, unveiling far-reaching proposals that would affect nearly every aspect of banking and markets.
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Barack Obama's bringing change to the White House, right? Oops...maybe not:
As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House. But last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama's "clean coal" policies. One reason: the disclosure of such records might impinge on privileged "presidential communications." The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig's office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclosure.
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John Ensign (R-NV) should resign. In case you haven't heard, he had an affair with one of his staffers and now he's in finger-pointing mode with the husband of his former mistress.
Why should he resign? Well, it is a fact that we are all human and that humans make mistakes. However, John Ensign signed himself up for a heightened level of scrutiny. When Bill Clinton had his sexual dalliances, Ensign called for his resignation. When Larry Craig did his toe-tapping search for a mating partner in an airport bathroom, Ensign said that a Craig resignation would be best for the GOP. Now, Ensign has laid bare his own sexual failings. He set up this standard for himself. Now, he has glaringly failed to meet that standard. If he doesn't step down, he will be displaying an acute and tin-eared case of hypocrisy
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I know the "conservative" position is to maintain the current policies on travel and trade with Cuba. However, I think those policies should be relaxed.
We have had anti-Castro and anti-Cuba policies in place for decades. What has it gotten us? Cuba hasn't changed at all. They are still as restrictive and anti-democratic and isolated as ever. While many of the people in Cuba have suffered, Fidel Castro has ruled with an iron fist and seemingly thrived through most of that period. Now, his brother, Raul, has picked up where Fidel left off. With this recent handover of power, why shouldn't we try something different? Perhaps if we shine a little sunlight on our neighbor to the South and help them to prosper a little more, we can effect some level of openness or change. We don't have to become BFF's with them, but a little bit of detente just might go a long way
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Comment by PopulistConservative
on A Democratic supermajority
Angry Electorate