I can’t be the only one who read this piece by Jonathan Chait titled “Why the Democrats Can’t Govern,” a longish lament about Democrats killing Obama’s agenda, and whose first reaction upon reading the piece was:
“You know what else makes it hard to govern? When people launch venomous and nasty smear campaigns about individuals appointed to positions in the Obama administration.”
Chait should add the much-feared Free Tibet lobby to the list of obstacles facing President Obama. Although he would never take part in anything like that, I am sure.
CalD
Why doesn’t TNR just die?
Seriously.
jon
Obama passes one of the biggest non-budget bills in history, gets through a ton of other major bills AND appears to have enough votes for his budget(in the same basic shape he asked for)…and the reaction is to talk about how fucked up the Dems are governing? Wtf?
kid bitzer
i don’t know; it’s useful to have tnr around, so that anyone who has ever been involved with it is instantly recognizable.
"oh; he used to write for tnr? then i know he’s full of shit."
it’s a pretty reliable rule of thumb.
used to be disgusted
I agree that the Chait article is considerably premature.
But I also don’t want to take any risks. I’m a Democrat, but I’d like to be part of an organized political party. I’m going to start calling for DNC/OFA, and I may join MoveOn in the hopes that they’ll have the guts to kick some of these waffling Senators around a little.
amorphous
@jon: also, ends state-sanctioned torture, produces one of the largest tax cuts ever, expands the role of scientists in scientific positions (gasp!), etc.
But, since he reads from a TelePrompTer and doesn’t fart lightning, he is a failure.
The Populist
This is where the GOP won’t wake up from their pipe dreams. They act like all they have to do is sell the same meme they’ve sold for the last 20 years…Dems can’t govern, they spend lots of money, they are socialists in disguise, they hate the troops, the constitution and apple pie (too greasy!).
Funny, all the whining they do you’d think they’d come up with counterpoints to sell America on?!?!?! I mean even the Dems when they weren’t in power tried to come up with counterarguments to GOP initiatives (even if they caved and gave in). The GOP is basically saying all the crap they did over the last 10-15 years in power. THEY put us in the deficits, THEY hate freedom by passing crap like the Patriot Act, THEY hate small business by supporting these scum sucking mega corps.
The right are a lying sack of shit. Guess what righties? You are idiots. An idiot sits there parroting what they are taught to repeat. A serious person who cares AT LEAST comes up with counterpoints and points of debate.
Yep, enjoy being obstructionists because when every last ounce of blood is squeezed from this economy, you fucks will be begging the rest of us for forgiveness.
MattR
@CalD: Hopefully TNR will be gone soon enough. The Aspers/CanWest could not handle the financial losses, even if they liked the ideological tone, and have sold it back to Peretz and co. I assume they had some deep pocketed investors willing to back them, but in this economy I wonder how long will those investors stand behind a product that continues to hemmorage money. (For some reason, I don’t picture Marty Peretz being willing to put too much of his own money on the line to keep things running. But that is just my opinion)
AhabTDefenestrator
Apple pie: U R DOIN’ IT RONG!
DougJ
John, check out Ezra Klein’s reply.
The Populist
I know, it’s a crack on what GOPers think of granola eating libs.
Incertus
Jon Chait wrote somethi…zzzzzzzzzzz…
TenguPhule
Everyone knows Apple pie is Royalist Dessert.
Real Patriotic American sweet is Chocolate Cake.
Brachiator
Let’s see. Chait says:
And yet, under President Clinton, we had a budget, a growing economy, decreased welfare dependency and pretty good times. Clinton’s domestic agenda included a BTU (energy) tax that was pretty stupid and got shot down by Congress.
So let’s see. We didn’t get Clinton’s agenda. But we got prosperity instead. Hmmm.
So what, exactly, is the problem?
And then there is stuff like this:
The last time I checked, liberals were supposed to be eating only locally grown veggies which, of course, would hurt the Third World poor.
Between stoopid liberals and stoopid conservatives, I’m not too worried about Obama.
ImJohnGalt
I actually agreed with a lot of Chait’s arguments. I think the ridiculous egos in the Senate (hellooooo, Evan Bayh!) are seriously impeding Obama’s efforts to move the nation in a more progressive direction, which is what I took away from his article.
But the commenters over there have been drinking some serious crazy juice.
(addendum)
I just read Ezra’s piece linked to above and find his reasoning compelling. It’s a problem with the institution as well as the Democrats. Still, can we at least dispense with the ability of a single senator to place a hold on legislation anonymously? If anonymous isn’t okay for Mudflats, it’s *definitely* not okay for a Senator blocking legislation.
bago
Really, it would be faster to make a group that wasn’t drinking the crazy juice.
garyb50
I’m just filled with warm nostalgia thinking of GW.
Downpuppy
Had you stopped at
I’d have already said "Of course you are." Hands if I’m wrong?
Rainy
You guys are forgetting that these very Dems want to torpedo Obama middle class tax cut. He has two years already for that, but Congress doesn’t to extend that. They also don’t want to repeal the Bush tax cuts either. Please read behind what’s going on. Congress is Obama’s biggest road block right now.
Can I also point out that they don’t want to get rid of the middle man in the student loan process! Obama has found 2 trillion dollars of savings, but these jerks, being lobbied heavily by Wall Street, are seriously ruining everything. He has votes for his budget yes, but Reid the reconciliation vote off the table for that. He only needs 50 votes plus the Vice President. Reid won’t allow that! He wants the traditional 60 votes.
Reid also told liberals to leave the conservative and moderate Dems alone. Why should we? These guys are trying torpedo Obama agenda. Evan Bayh just wants to make a name for himself. These conservative Dems are trying to make themselves the gateway for whatever Obama wants to get done, so they so up next to him at the podium when the signs the bills.
Congress needs term limits. These people are too entrenched and most of them corporatist appeasers. A lot of them have been there just too long.
liberal
@kid bitzer:
Mostly, though Spencer Ackerman seems to have turned out OK.
Zandar
Evan Bayh is, quite frankly, obnoxious.
Bayh however is only a fraction as obnoxious as the TNR/Open Left/Team Orange circular firing squad.
jwb
Can you say "desperate for traffic"? Oh noes the skies tehy falling.
guest omen
i’ve heard this anecdote brought up a couple of times. who was it who called FDR a stalinist? a member of his own party or cabinet member?
guest omen
@Zandar:
i remember evan bayh. he actually had the nerve to play the 9/11 card during the primary. suggested if we didn’t vote for hillary, we were all going to die.