Beware: The dean of the D.C. press corps is disappointed.
In his Washington Post column today (“Dodgeball for Democrats,” 11/18/10), David Broder leads off with this:
When the rules of the House of Representatives forced the Democrats to confront a painful choice among their leaders, they did what Democrats are often inclined to do. They changed the rules.
Usually, such a stunt would matter only to the members affected by the change. But this one sends a dangerous signal at a crucial moment, when both parties are being tested on their willingness to respond to the lessons of the last election. This is a disquieting development.
Egad! What was this disquieting stunt that the rule-breaking Democrats pulled off? As Broder explains, losing the Congressional majority normally means losing one leadership position (majority leader); so the party would have a minority leader, a whip and a chair. But since Pelosi is staying on to serve as minority leader, the Democrats have four leaders for three positions. So Pelosi created a position called “assistant leader” in order to keep veteran African-American lawmaker James Clyburn in a leadership role.
I know, I am as outraged as you by this “dangerous” rule-breaking. Funny thing is, a few days prior something very similar was happening on the Republican side. The new Republican majority, facing leadership challenges from Tea Party-backed lawmakers, created two new positions for incoming freshmen.
Does any of this actually matter much? Not to most people. But David Broder isn’t most people; while he acknowledges that this wouldn’t make a difference in normal times, these are certainly not normal times:
But we are about to start a Congress in which everything depends on the willingness of the leadership in both parties to face up to hard choices–on the budget, Afghanistan and a dozen other issues.
Too often in the past, Democrats have avoided making hard choices by throwing more money in the pot or taking similar self-indulgent steps. When it came to the stimulus legislation and health-care reform, for example, Democrats spent to buy votes rather than make tough choices.
The Democrats’ unwillingness to face the hard choice in this internal fight sends exactly the wrong signal.
You see, it’s not really about what James Clyburn’s job title is at all. Democrats are “self-indulgent” money-wasters who “buy votes”–though the examples Broder cites (health care and stimulus) were instances where the party, in an effort to attract Republican and/or Blue Dog support, trimmed their sails, winding up with a stimulus package many thought was too small and a healthcare plan that lacked a public option or a serious effort to control drug costs.
It’s too bad the Democrats aren’t ready to be serious. I mean, they’re not even willing (yet) to follow Broder’s advice and start bombing Iran.
shorter broder : iokiyar
Geez, I know it gets hard for all of us to come into work every day and put in a full day’s work, but Broder should know how to write a column about SOMEthing important, what with all the BIG problems in the world today. This sounds like he was just too tired to bother, came in at 9 AM, threw something together about an innocuous minor internal matter that even hardcore politicos would yawn about, added an anti-Democratic Party slam just to keep himself in good with his bosses, and called it a day at 10 AM. Of course this will resonate with the Tea Party faithful when Fox and Limbaugh etc breathlessly reveal it as a grand conspiracy by the Dems to take over Congress and convert it to a Communist cell, so get ready…
Thank you for your accurate response. You nailed it.
This nation needs a New BOOK, “Why America Schlepped”, NOW!
WTF!! The Democrats change the rules??? The Republicans will either look for how to skirt the rules, change the rules, ignore the rules to get their way. They are sore losers, they will not even acknowledge that Mr. Obama won the election and call him Presidebt Obama. It’s always Obama this, Obama that. They lost the 2008 election and what do they do?Exploit the situation by invoking in the Senate 60 votes to pass legislation that needs only a simple majority. They are in line with the corporate rules to push the limits of any type of regulation by either ignoring the rules and therefore incurring fines which are just the cost of doing business because all that must be done is to pass the costs of the fines on to the consumer or finding exemptions just for them depending on the type of business they are in financial, or otherwise. Just recently a Senator was heard saying that Goldman Sachs’ profitabilty would be hurt by the Wall Street Reform Law so the implementation of the rules would be curtailed, specifically the Volcker Rule. The 112th Congress, because of unearned majority’s agenda, is to repeal healthcare, wall street reform, Student loans which, by the way, removed the subsidies paid to the banks, freeing up more money for a greater number of students to participate, Credit Card reform, (headed by Elizabeth Warren, hopefully). Oh and now global warming legislation is guided by using as a reference the Christian Bible, which does not contain any science. It is a book written in the Bronze age when there were gods at every turn, you know real supernatural beings, for which no proof of their existence exists. The world of the Republicans is to go around obstacles such as truth, evidence, reality, and even though the bible is the rule book, rather than use the parts of the book that want people to be compassionate to others and that rails against the rich being what not to be, they embrace and worship the wealthy and their needs and the corporations whose goal is solely to have a bottom line that is profits at all costs, or should I say at great costs to damaging the environment, destroying people, particularly the middle class, sacrificing and exterminating wildlife who are on the verge of extinction because of corporate policies. Ah, yes the rules we don’t live by if we are Republicans and Tea Partiers. Party, first and foremost, country and fellow citizens take a backseat, you are second class.
The only story here is why?….how could you?…..are you nuts?……are you deaf?…..did you get dropped on your head?……why in the world would you?…KEEP NANCY P IN ANY POSITION OF POWER AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!
“are you nuts?â┚¬Ã‚¦Ãƒ¢Ã¢”š¬Ã‚¦are you deaf?â┚¬Ã‚¦..did you get dropped on your head?”
Ach! Michael e iz projecting again! I zuggezt therapy!
Holy shit! Maybe it’s time to take Broder behind the shed or out into the woods and show him the bunnies . . . .
TimN
Huh?
This is a non-story, internal rules change with the wind and it makes no difference in the rule of law.
A much bigger story is why did not one candidate mention anything about the 2 wars we are still involved in and none suggested as part of the of the budget cutting bit we stop funding occupation wars for an enemy that has no country.
Of Mice and Men.
Ah yes of course.My memory failed me.Thanx