Who would have thought that it would be Democrats that would turn out to be one of President Obama’s adversaries in getting his budget through congress? Republicans seem to be incidental, but a group of Democrats, dubbed “ConservaDems” by Rachel Maddow, appear to be the obstacles to passage of the Obama budget.
Republicans are such a tiny minority in Washington right now, they have so little power of any real kind in the political system, that it just doesn‘t matter what they think. Mathematically, the Republicans don‘t really matter.
If the president does actually have political trouble passing his budget and his other priorities it will not be because of anything Republicans have done. They are essentially politically irrelevant now. If the president can‘t pass his budget and his agenda, it won‘t be because of Republicans.
It will be because of this guy, Evan Bayh. He‘s a Democrat. Evan Bayh waited through George W. Bush‘s two terms in office. He waited until a Democratic president was elected and then he formed a group of conservative Democrats in the Senate to oppose his own party‘s agenda.
Under Senator Bayh‘s leadership, eight conservative Democrats have written the White House saying they are siding with the Republican minority in saying that they want it to take more than a majority vote to pass legislation like health care reform and global warming legislation.
They, as conservative Democrats, want it to be harder for the president‘s agenda to pass the Senate. Do I need to say that with friends like these lines, or are you already thinking it? Today a group of progressives launched a new initiative to pressure Evan Bayh and the conserva-Dems off their course of opposing the president‘s agenda. [Rachel Maddow]
We’re all familiar with the assertions by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over the past few years that the Democrat majority in the Senate couldn’t do this or that because they couldn’t muster the necessary 60 votes to overcome a filibuster threat by the Republican minority.
Maddow characterizes the Republican minority as impotent powerless to really block Obama’s proposed budget. It seems that a group of Democrat Senators are going to join up with Republican senators to scuttle the ship for Obama. What is this about? Why this mutiny?
Headed up by Senator Bayh (D-IN) a group of “blue dog democrats” have formed a group they call “Moderate Dems Working Group.” There are some 15 Democratic Senators in the group, including Joe Lieberman.
We all recall how Lieberman left the Democratic Party and became an active campaigner for John McCain for President.
In addition to Senators Bayh and Lieberman, others joining the group are Tom Carper of Delaware, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Mark Warner of Virginia. [Raw Story]
So what are these Democrat turncoats up to?
Bayh and his colleagues have joined with Republicans to insist that the president gain a super-majority of 60 votes to pass any of his major reforms. Others warned the president not to use existing budget rules that require only a simple majority of 51 votes to pass either his clean energy or his health care reforms. Now, if the Moderate Dems Working Group votes alongside Republicans against Senate Democrats, they will be able to block Obama’s major reforms, which need at least 60 votes to pass. [Raw Story]
I voted for President Obama because he campaigned to change things in Washington, D.C. I support those changes, I support clean energy and health care reforms President Obama seeks to change. I, for one, don’t appreciate that group of Democratic Senators who intend to try and block President Obama’s budget which will give effect to those changes.
If those turncoat Democratic Senators want to block Obama they can switch their political label to Republican so far as I’m concerned. They have become DINO’s (Democrats in name only).
To learn more about this Bayh matter read “Evan Bayh: ‘Building Bridges’ to Nowhere.” If you do read it, pay attention to the contributors to Bayh. If you live in Indiana you need to take a long hard look at Bayh before the 2010 election.
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I wouldn’t put a lot of substance in what Maddow is saying for pure ‘shock and awe’ reasons.
What this group wants to do is slow things down and run them through the proper committees for a thorough study before acting on them. Thus avoiding the huge mistakes made in 43′s rush-rush stimulus and things like the AIG mess which also happened because nobody in either party got to digest anything before Reid had it up for a vote. This group’s Dem bona fides are still intact very much.
So this is more a rebellion against how Reid has been running the Senate than on what Obama’s objectives are.
I am wondering what exactly can be done about this. I am not sure how to change what is going on. I live in California, there arn’t any conservadems here. I wonder what voters, who do not live in the states were this is happening, can do. I almost think that the super majority is not necesarry, let the reps do their filibuster. Basically by calling their bluff, Obama may be able to get through his progressive legislation. We shall see.