Certainly there are some Democrats that many progressives are tired of sharing a political party with. Among them may well be Diane Feinstein, Daniel Akaka, Mark Pryor, Jon Tester, and (what else is new) Ben Nelson.
Senate Democrats do not have the votes to lower the 60-vote threshold to cut off filibusters.The lack of support among a handful of Senate Democratic incumbents is a major blow to the effort to change the upper chamber’s rules.
Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate are pushing for filibuster reform at the start of the new Congress next year.
Five Senate Democrats have said they will not support a lowering of the 60-vote bar necessary to pass legislation. Another four lawmakers say they are wary about such a change and would be hesitant to support it. ...The Hill
Yes, Tester has a powerful argument when he says the greater problem is his party's inability to get its own people to work together. But isn't he play that very game when he refuses to vote to overturn long-standing rules that are being used against his own party?
Ben Nelson doesn't like change. What he means is that he probably didn't like the changes that made Obama president and gave the Democrats majorities in both houses. Which means he's not a Democrat. Isn't there some law against pretending to be a Democrat, conning your way into an election win, and then ruining your alleged party's chances of being effective?
Feinstein is one of those people who doesn't like change either. Progress is not on her agenda.
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While I'm on a Democrat-bashing kick, how about a president whose knee jerks reactively every time he hears Republican criticism? Why are Democrats -- from the White House right through the Senate -- so defensive? Aren't leadership and defensiveness antithetical?
But here's the prez heading to New Jersey to fend off accusations that he's unfriendly to business. Yes, Barack Obama is unfriendly towards business, right?
Republicans and business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have driven home the message that the Obama administration is curtailing private-sector growth. They point to tax increases proposed by the White House as well as an uncertain regulatory environment brought about by massive reforms to the healthcare sector and Wall Street.
Businesses are said to be sitting on $2 trillion in income but are not hiring, partly because of the administration’s policies, according to Republicans....The Hill
I think businesses that sit smugly on $2 trillion, depriving people of jobs and a decent economy to make a political point, should be taken out to the woodshed. I think Obama should go to New Jersey and and tell them to get back to work and quit playing games. I think he should point a finger at Republican critics and lay out in clear terms what Republicans did to destroy the economy.
Oh well. All that would happen in a real country where real people were as concerned about their neighbors as about themselves, and political parties were vying to do their best for their country, not themselves. We lost all that in 1980. I don't see Obama bringing it back. Not in his cowering mode. Not today at the Tastee Sub Shop in Edison, anyway...
