Know Your Branches
I think this from Chris Bowers brings a much-needed perspective to the oft-cranky discussions of the Obama administration at Open Left:
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Senate, rather than the Obama administration, is the biggest obstacle to progressive governance right now. If we were dealing with only the House and the Obama administration, there would be a noticeably more progressive government in America. From health care reconciliation, to 100% auction cap and trade, to a larger stimulus package, to bailout reform, to bankruptcy “cramdown” reform, and even to executive compensation, the Senate has moved to the right of both the House and the Obama administration. As such, it is the Senate, and not the Obama administration, against whom we should be directing more of our distrust and pressure.
Just imagine what we would have accomplished in terms of legislation without the Senate over the past few months. The stimulus would have had a hundred billion more in spending, 100% auctions would be on their way, hundreds of billions for new health care would be on its way, bankruptcy “cramdown” would be law, EFCA would be law, executive compensation limits would be far more severe, and on and on and on. However, if we had the Senate but there was no President, the legislative accomplishments would have been pretty much the same.
I think it’s crucially important to be aware of where the responsibility for disappointments lies. There are some important areas where the Obama administration really is the key actor. They are the ones taking positions on executive power that are at odds with what many people were hoping for from a new administration. And if you want to talk about strategy toward Afghanistan, the Obama administration takes full responsibility for whatever good or bad is coming out of that. But on basic domestic policy legislation, the essence of the matter is that the median member of the House of Representatives is more progressive than the median Senator and a lot more progressive than the sixtieth Senator you need to break a filibuster. Mark Pryor and Susan Collins are trying to unleash some torrent of liberal legislation that Obama is holding back.
28 Responses to “Know Your Branches”
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April 10th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Mark Pryor and Susan Collins are not trying to unleash some torrent of liberal legislation that Obama is holding back.
fixt
April 10th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Fixed that for you.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
But you are underestimating the bully pulpit and power of the unitary presidency. Obama can possibly, as FDR openly threatened in his first inaugural, perhaps thru a reconciliation bill with a mere majority, perhaps thru a presidential decree, or just by saying:”How many brigades do Mark Pryor and Birch Bayh have?” take as much power as Obama wants and needs. And the threat,if it isn’t a bluff, might work by itself.
Do a Charles II, and send Congress home. The constraints of Law are always and only self-constraints. The rest is the reality of power.
You know, we can in retrospect, I think, imagine FDR grabbing full dictatorial powers in 1933 rather than letting millions die and fascism take control. That we cannot imagine Obama doing so, or imagine the Party and the blogosphere supporting Obama should he so choose, does not show a near century of moral improvement.
Exactly what great moral values are being preserved at the expense of necessary policy? Do we feel all righteous about this sacrifice to comity and process?
April 10th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
think it’s crucially important to be aware of where the responsibility for disappointments lies. There are some important areas where the Obama administration really is the key actor. They are the ones taking positions on executive power that are at odds with what many people were hoping for from a new administration.
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Or more clearly, taking positions that Obama explicitly campaigned against
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/on-state-secret.html
On ‘State Secrets,’ Meet Barack W. Obama
April 10, 2009 9:20 AM
In February, President Obama’s Justice Department quietly argued in a San Francisco court that it was maintaining the same position as President Bush’s Justice Department on a case involving detainees trying to sue a private company for its role in their (allegedly) extraordinary renditions.
The Obama administration pushed the status quo administration argument by invoking the “state secrets” argument, also a Bush-era fave.
“It is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases,” said DOJ spox Matt Miller.
Last week, Team Obama did it again.
And why wouldn’t they?
Attorney General Eric Holder recently said he was reviewing the way the Bush administration used the “state secrets” argument, but “on the basis of the two, three cases that we’ve had to review so far — I think that the invocation of the doctrine was correct.”
Huh.
That seems a little different from the Obama-Biden campaign website where “The Problem” is described in part as the Bush administration having “invoked a legal tool known as the ’state secrets’ privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.”
Because that’s just what the Obama administration tried to do.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
It took Bowers and the experienced cool-headed adults at Open Left THIS long to figure this out? They’re slipping.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Do I approve of Bush grabbibg, or trying to grab extra-legal powers in the Presidency? I don’t approve of Bush policies & goals.
A sane person does not sacrifice the lives health and fortunes of the people on the altar of process liberalism.
Or hell, Obama just bust down the doors and punch Bayh out on the Senate Floor, Let impeachment begin. But let’s stop “playing” at politics.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
@6 — Buford, you must have forgotten the primary. They ain’t slipping, they’re becoming smarter. I’m actually stunned.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I should add, the 60-vote requirement to increase the budget deficit is a problem too. But the membership of the Senate alone isn’t the problem, as proportionately there are about the same number of Democratic Senators as Democratic Reps
58/100 = 58% (59% after Franken is seated)
257/435 = 59.1%
If, God forbid, things get as bad or worse as 1933, the Democrats must execute the “nuclear option” themselves. Otherwise, Republican intransigence could actually lead to the collapse of our economic and political system, and all because of a procedural rule–mind you, not the Constitution or a Supreme Court opinion, like what happened leading up to the Civil war, but a procedural rule!
Think this is exaggeration? Look at what almost happened to California. Yes, the GOP in the Senate as a whole is just as crazy as in CA. Imagine that drama playing out in Congress. Heck, it just did with the stimulus battle.
Ok, just talking about this is making me depressed. God save the Republic!
April 10th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
So let me see if I’ve got this right here, Bob. The problem with Obama is that he hasn’t suspended the constitution and assumed emergency powers?
I think it’s time to take your meds you addle-brained old fool.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Total pathetic Obama groupies can actually go even further.
It is (just barely) possible to maintain a straight face while blaming the Senate for the Obama DOJ’s appalling positions on state secrets, sovereign immunity and Bagram habeas corpus.
The argument is that the Obama administration has to protect the guilty because otherwise the Republicans in the senate with filibuster the confirmation of Dawn JOhnson as head of the OLC (who will tell them they can’t do that anymore once she is confirmed).
Not a grounds for hope for the future, since supreme court confirmations are a bit more important, but a way to blame the Senate.
The threat is public and explicit in the case of releasing the torture memos. It might be private or hinted in the other cases.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Unfortunately, as long as Republicans have 40 plus seats in the House of Lords they will remain a serious nuisance. The key, of course, is to eliminate this nuisance in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
Until then, we have to just muddle along and continue to beg the two ladies in Maine.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
The constraints of Law are always and only self-constraints. The rest is the reality of power.
Elegantly stated. Are you quoting somebody? It’s absolutely horrifying, but a well formed bit of prose nonetheless.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
13:Nah, it’s mine and mine alone.
12:I have said for years that any new marginal Democrats wil likely be Blue Dogs. We are not ever getting 65 Feingolds.
10:One child dying for Birch Bayh’s ego and campaign warchest is unacceptable. I find you completely contemptible for holding process liberalism more valuable than human well-being.
Shit, Senators can be had. They’re easy to scare into submission, as has been shown for the last eight years. You don’t have to go martial law, but you do kinda have to threaten it. Obama simply is a coward and weakling compared to GWB.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Man on man, “serious” progressives really hate that feisty bunch over at openleft.
But as for “domestic policy legistlation” I think you may be a tad askew. While the Senate is certainly an obstacle in general, concerning the Bank restructuring plan, I think that one sits with Obama, Geithner et al. And that is the most obvious and immediate problem enveloping our country. How we reorient runaway finance may be the big issue of the day, and thus far Obama has not been a leader.
So maybe those troublemakers at Openleft are a little bit wise to be suspicous on occasion.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Anybody round here linked to James Kunstler lately? He likes Obama, but thinks Obama needs to adjust strategies and tactics a shade.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
So let me see if I’ve got this right here, Bob. The problem with Obama is that he hasn’t suspended the constitution and assumed emergency powers?
I think it’s time to take your meds you addle-brained old fool.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
History lesson for Bob, a democratic congress destroyed the first new deal. The bully pulpit only works so much. If dems come back from 2010 feeling safe then Obama will have more room to play. They come back feeling uncomfortable and we’ll find out just how powerful the Senate is.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
@16: Interesting link. Obama told the bankers he was the last thing standing between them and the “pitchforks.” I like it.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Do a Charles II, and send Congress home. The constraints of Law are always and only self-constraints. The rest is the reality of power.
You know, we can in retrospect, I think, imagine FDR grabbing full dictatorial powers in 1933 rather than letting millions die and fascism take control. That we cannot imagine Obama doing so, or imagine the Party and the blogosphere supporting Obama should he so choose, does not show a near century of moral improvement.
The stimulus would have had a hundred billion more in spending, 100% auctions would be on their way, hundreds of billions for new health care would be on its way, bankruptcy “cramdown” would be law, EFCA would be law, executive compensation limits would be far more severe, and on and on and on.
Exactly what great moral values are being preserved at the expense of necessary policy? Do we feel all righteous about this sacrifice to comity and process
==========================================================
Jeebus, if you really want a dictator why don’t you just move to a country that’s already got one? Plenty to choose from. And they’re all such PLEASANT places to live
April 10th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
That’s why the Lieberman committee chair vote mattered so much: it was the first real test of whether or not there was going to be any consequences for a Senate Democrat if they worked to undermine Obama’s agenda.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Oh yeah, and there’s that whole transparency thing, too
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http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=695&sid=latest
A young man was robbed on Tuesday night inside a hospital while federal security guards watched. The victim was surrounded by seven men and women, and most of them had guns. The thieves refused to let the young man leave a public meeting he was attending and forced him to hand over valuable and irreplaceable property. Three days after the incident, no charges have been filed, nobody has been arrested and the property is still in the hands of the perpetrators. This occurred despite the fact that the victim and federal authorities know exactly who committed this heinous crime.
This is a true story. It happened to David Schultz, a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Arizona.
What makes this story truly unbelievable – and very scary – is the fact that the mastermind of this attack is a federal employee, Gloria Hairston, an internal communications specialist with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. She was aided by at least two other employees of the V.A. and four armed security guards.
I call the incident an “attack” because it was just that. An attack on the First Amendment, an attack on veterans and an attack on the public’s right to know how their government is treating wounded vets.
Schultz is a reporter with Public Radio station WAMU. Last Tuesday night, he was covering a public event at the V.A. Hospital in Washington, D.C. While interviewing one of the veterans about the poor treatment he was receiving at the hands of the V.A., Ms. Hairston demanded that Schultz stop recording the interview and hand over his recording equipment.
“She said I wouldn’t be allowed to leave,” Schultz tells WTOP.
At first he refused. But after being surrounded by armed police officers who stood between him and the exit, he looked for a compromise.
“I became worried that I was going to get arrested,” Schultz says.
Schultz convinced Hairston that all she really needed to confiscate was the memory card to his recorder, rather than all of his equipment. While this was going on, many of the veterans from the meeting had come out to watch the confrontation.
One of those veterans, an amputee in a wheelchair, approached Schultz and asked him for his phone number.
“I started to give it to him and then the woman {Hairston} became irate, she said you can’t give him your phone number. You have to give me all of your equipment or I’m going to get ugly. She used the phrase ‘get ugly,’” Schultz says,
Like any good reporter, Schultz stood his ground and called his boss for direction. Longtime newsman Jim Asendio is the news director for WAMU.
“I told him to give them the flash card and get out of there,” Asendio says. “I didn’t want this to get out of hand.”
Schultz reluctantly handed over the memory card from his recorder.
“I’ve been a reporter for two and a half, three years, I’m sort of at the beginning of my career,” Schultz says. “I wish I had handled it differently, I think they preyed on my inexperience and I really feel bad about that.”
Schultz makes a good point. Would the V.A. bullies have treated a seasoned reporter from The Washington Post the same way? Doubtful. But Schultz does a fine job of putting this experience in the proper perspective.
“What I mostly feel bad about is Mr. Canady,” Schultz says. “He was trying to tell his story, he has an amazing story and he was denied a chance to tell his story to the media because of these tactics.”
Tommie Canady is a 56-year-old veteran with a terminal illness who says he’s been getting less than adequate care at the V.A. Hospital. Despite the best efforts of Ms. Hairston, Schultz and WAMU have been successful in telling Canady’s story.
Unfortunately, WAMU has been unsuccessful in retrieving the memory card which remains in the hands of the federal government.
“Our lawyers are working on that,” Asendio says.
On Thursday afternoon, Asendio hand-delivered a letter from WAMU’s general manager to the V.A Hospital demanding the return of the memory card. When he tried to deliver a copy of the letter to V.A. headquarters, he was turned away.
“They told me I need to call first to make an appointment to drop off a letter,” Asendio says.
Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio and Television News Directors Association, says this “smacks of censorship and control that’s worthy of big brother.”
April 11th, 2009 at 12:07 am
@22: Don’t worry. There is a new sheriff in town. Democrats won’t allow this kind of residual beaucratic activity to go on much longer.
It takes time to weed out the Republicans that sent our men and women to war and then treated them like shit when they came home. They are still entrenched in the system, and they will fight any attempt to move defense spending away from giant weapons systems and towards the people that make up our armed forces.
Hang in there. Change takes time. Vast damage has been done the last eight years, no doubt, not just to First Amendment rights, but to the honorable folk who joined the Armed Services and then were lied to by their Commander-in-Chief, and sent to Iraq, for no good reason, to die and get maimed and then be forgotten about.
We Democrats will not forget the damage done to our serviceman. No sir. We will change Republican policies that treat our returning veterans like collateral damage.
Hopefully, the National Media, essentially owned by six enormous conglomerates, Right Wing corporations that care not for patriotism, but only for the almighty dollar, will not stand in our way.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Cranky, huh? Go fuck yourself!
April 11th, 2009 at 6:58 am
In Reagan’s first year in office he destroyed a union, cut marginal tax rates by 25% and deregulated everything in sight despite being shot and the opposition party controlling 46 Senate seats and 244 in the House.
April 11th, 2009 at 10:48 am
To judge Obama on the Bank Plan right now is ludicrous,only time will tell and if he gets really involved and tinkers with it as it goes,there is no cure for this it has to be tweaked and tinkered with to work.I still say by the Fed back from the Rothchilds and let it be run by Washington so it can be better regulated and watched over and nationalize the banks and regulate them and the SEC and again more oversight.It doesn`t take a genius to remember that Obama`s first 100 days are not up yet and he has some remarkable stuff in such a short time, he has his hands full and the senate,the blue dogs and the party of NO don`t seem to bother him as much as “we the people”.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Reagan started to dismantle the middle class his first year and the re-pukes haven`t stopped yet and won`t until we have a two class system.Ray Gun Ronnie also doubled our S.S. taxes so he could raid it for his Star wars project and other eccentricities as he became the president who spent more than all previous Presidents put together and Herr Dumbya has done the same thing.The Boy Emperor had a nice surplus and now it`s Obama`s 10 trillion dollar mess.What gives with these tax cuts and spend into deficit repukes vs the Tax and spend Democrats, the dems leave a surplus and rek-pukes get a hard on for small gov`t and big spending.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am
The Senate inherently over-represents small-population states that tend to be among the most rural and conservative. Not much to do there except limit the use of filibusters, pay off rural constituencies (e.g., agricultural subsidies), or amend the Constitution.