Health Care Summit Reaction

On March 1, 2010, In Media, Obama, Politics, Senate, By Grahame

About two weeks ago I wrote a post in anticipation of the February 25th Health Care Summit in the context of President Obama’s political style – the “Long Game”. His style was described as that of a chess player always thinking farther ahead than his political opponents, drawing them in “treat them as if they were operating in good faith, and draw them into a conversation about how they actually would solve the problem. If they have nothing, it shows”, as Mark Schmitt articulated it.

In my post I described how Democrats in Washington were going to try to use the Summit to push Health Care Reform the extra few inches it needs to get passed. Thus, the audience for the Summit was not the public as much as it was the Congressional Democrats who needed to be persuaded to fight for this legislation, and who needed to be persuaded that Republicans had no real ideas that would turn into votes.

The hope is that this summit will give Democrats enough political breathing room (read: spine) to force the House of Representatives to pass the Senate version of HCR and the Senate to fix some problems with their bill through reconciliation. If that happens, Obama will have his victory. As Sullivan would say, “meep, meep“.

(Whoa, I just quoted myself. A blog first. How meta!)

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A Clever Post Title Involving Evan Bayh’s Name

On February 23, 2010, In Filibuster, Politics, Senate, By Grahame

Last week the Senate and the Democratic Party were shaken up by the announcement that Evan Bayh, Democratic Senator from Indiana, would retire at the end of his term instead of running for re-election this fall despite $13 million in his campaign warchest and a 20 point lead in the polls. He cited the failure of the Senate to function as his main reason for leaving – ignoring the fact that his brand of centrism helped create the deadlock. Bayh, a “centrist” in name but seemingly a simple political animal in action, had an uncanny ability to annoy the living hell out of the more liberal wing of the Democratic party, his departure was met with something other than anger or dismay from both sides of the political spectrum. I personally couldn’t have been happier to show him the door, despite the chances of his seat turning red in November increasing with his departure.

Because the Washington media loves those like Bayh who position themselves as bipartisan or centrist (especially when it comes to the issue of the deficit), progressives derided his so-called “centrism” as mere political positioning that helped Republicans obstruct Democratic initiatives, and met his exit with a flurry of blog posts with titles like “Bye, Bayh” or “Bayh Low” (“Bayh” is pronounced “Bye” or “Buy” – thus explaining my overly complicated attempt at a joke in my blog title). Ezra Klein called him an “ordinary politician” and a “minor deficit hypocrite”. Jonathan Chait goes farther, and notes that “If Bayh’s loss is a “brain drain,” then the Senate is in even worse shape than I thought.”

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Obama’s Style

On February 14, 2010, In Media, Obama, Politics, By Grahame

I’m starting to get more and more excited for the Feb. 25th Health Care Summit. It will inevitably be a fascinating look into President Obama’s political style. Mark Schmitt articulated that style over two years ago:

One way to deal with that kind of bad-faith opposition is to draw the person in, treat them as if they were operating in good faith, and draw them into a conversation about how they actually would solve the problem. If they have nothing, it shows. And that’s not a tactic of bipartisan Washington idealists — it’s a hard-nosed tactic of community organizers, who are acutely aware of power and conflict. It’s how you deal with people with intractable demands — put ‘em on a committee. (more…)

 
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RIP Filibuster, Jan. 2011? Don’t Count On It

On February 1, 2010, In Filibuster, Politics, Senate, By Grahame

It stands to reason that the complexities of the Senate’s procedures coupled with anger over the stalling of the Health Care Reform bill would lead to some very creative ideas about how to kill the filibuster, and with it, the Senate’s ridiculous supermajority requirement. One argument I have heard many times is that 51 Senators (or 50 plus the Vice President) can basically do anything they want. Now, there is an article by Ian Millhiser in the American Prospect arguing basically that fact:

What the Senate is not allowed to do, however, is tell future senators what rules must apply to their proceedings. Because Reichelderfer prohibits a previous Congress from tying the hands of a future Congress, the rules governing Senate procedure in 2010 cannot bind a newly elected Senate in 2011. The old Senate rules essentially cease to exist until the new Senate ratifies them, so a determined bloc of 51 senators could eliminate the filibuster altogether by demanding a rules change at the beginning of a new session. Once the new Senate begins to operate under the old rules, however, this can function as a ratification of the old rules — essentially locking those rules in place for another two years.

Millhiser is basically arguing that two Supreme Court decisions, Newton v. Commissioners in 1879 and Reichelderfer v. Quinn in 1932, make it possible for each new Senate to eliminate the filibuster, since the new Senate (the next one beginning in January 2011) isn’t beholden to any Senate procedures from previous Senates. (more…)

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Blue Populism/Red Populism

On January 26, 2010, In Politics, By Grahame

This, from David Brooks, is very pithy and strikes me as very smart (via Ezra Klein)

…populism is popular with the ruling class. Ever since I started covering politics, the Democratic ruling class has been driven by one fantasy: that voters will get so furious at people with M.B.A.’s that they will hand power to people with Ph.D.’s. The Republican ruling class has been driven by the fantasy that voters will get so furious at people with Ph.D.’s that they will hand power to people with M.B.A.’s. Members of the ruling class love populism because they think it will help their section of the elite gain power.

Probably a bit simplistic, but any one-paragraph summation of a subject like “populism in Washington D.C.” is always going to be. Still, a good way to start thinking about a political philosophy that is going to be quite dominant in our post-bailout political culture.

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Understanding The Filibuster In The 21st Century

On January 26, 2010, In Filibuster, Politics, Senate, By Grahame

Earlier today over at TalkingPointsMemo, a very useful article appeared that clarified most of the questions I had about the filibuster and the procedures as they currently stand.

Sure, in recent years, threats of filibuster have become more and more common — and getting 60 votes for key pieces of legislation has seemed to become evermore necessary. But at the same time, we rarely actually see senators filibustering, at least not like Jimmy Stewart’s character did in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Why?

The whole piece is worth a close read – though the title of the article gets to the gist of the matter: “How 41 Senators Control The Country Without Filibustering”. There currently are very few actual filibusters – the mere threat of one is enough to derail legislation (as we are currently seeing with the Health Care Reform legislation that has already passed both Chambers of Congress). (more…)

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Can The Sane Man Save The Crazy People?

On January 25, 2010, In Obama, Politics, By Grahame

Andrew Sullivan makes a plea to President Obama:

And somehow I suspect that at that nadir for Reagan, commentators like Krauthammer and Gerson and Brooks would not be advising him to heed public opinion, give up on his agenda, and recognize that it’s madness to push through policies that were broadly unpopular. Au contraire. Fight, Mr President. Fight. In the end, even the conservatives – perhaps especially the conservatives – will respect you for it.

Today, he quotes the President’s speech in Ohio. He is fighting: (more…)

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More Press Given To Insane Senate Holds

On January 19, 2010, In Politics, Senate, By Grahame

I wrote about this about a week ago, but here are the actual numbers. From Ann Lowery at Foreign Policy:

But President Barack Obama’s first year has brought an unusual number of holds, and on unusually prominent positions. One year into the Bush administration, there were 70 appointees awaiting confirmation. One year into the Obama administration, there are 177. And dozens of those holds are directly affecting the agencies responsible for the United States’ security and foreign policy, amid two wars and an amped-up terrorism threat. The United States has no ambassador to Ethiopia, no head of the Office of Legal Counsel, no director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, no agricultural trade representative.

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What Happens Tomorrow?

On January 19, 2010, In Politics, Senate, By Grahame

So has anyone heard? There is an election tomorrow. It is the special election to see who will serve out the remainder of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s term in Massachusetts’ Senate seat. To the surprise of just about everyone, the incredibly blue state of Massachusetts (they gave President Obama %61.8 of the vote in November of 2008) is most likely going to give the majority of its vote to a Republican candidate, State Senate Scott Brown, who opposes just about every item on the President’s agenda, while turning heavily against the Democratic candidate, Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley. For a more complete rundown of what the polls look like going into the election tomorrow, check out Nate Silver’s analysis. The key point:

Overall, while I would probably take Coakley’s side of a 3:1 wager, her situation looks to be increasingly difficult. She is basically relying upon getting solid turnout from a “silent majority” of voters who have done little to make themselves seen and heard. We know that there are a huge number of potential such voters in Massachusetts, which remains a very blue state and which until the past three weeks had not behaved unusually in any obvious way. But the pollsters are no longer seeing and hearing from them.

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When Politicians Get Involved In Sports, pt. 253

On January 13, 2010, In Baseball, Politics, Sports, By Grahame

For those of us who found the Major League Baseball steroid hearings fascinating (if incredibly sad for the sport) and are currently following the fallout from Mark McGwire’s admission of steroid use yesterday, this article is very interesting. The setup: McGwire wanted to testify truthfully at the 2005 hearings and wanted an immunity deal like Andy Pettitte got. Instead, McGwire was denied a deal by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and went on to humiliate himself in front of the panel by refusing to “talk about the past”. Joshua Green’s theory:

Here’s an idea: There was one guy in the administration who cared passionately about baseball; who seemed to sincerely love the game and revere its greatest players; who had a righteous streak, a strong sense of personal honor, and a tendency to see everything in terms of right and wrong; and who clearly had the power to make Alberto Gonzalez jump. This person also cared enough about the problem of steroid abuse to have mentioned it—and been ridiculed as a result—just a year earlier, in his 2004 State of the Union address. I wonder if George W. Bush was the one who blocked McGwire’s immunity deal and, in doing so, consigned McGwire to the ignominy he is just now beginning to try and overcome?

Wow. Could Dubya have been the one who put McGwire in this situation? (more…)

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