The Problem Is Obstruction

What the Broderellas of the world (and apparently, the Mario Cuomos as well) don't seem to understand is that the critical issues facing the country, the ones that practically the whole country wants the Congress to solve, are simply being held up by Republicans. They have every right by virtue of their place in the Senate to hold up those bills, but it's clear to me that they're doing it, not out of principle or considered belief, but because this whole "Congress doesn't do anything" theme is a political winner. Republicans in the Senate have already this week blocked lobbying reform, implementing the 9-11 Commission recommendations and the Employee Free Choice Act. The energy bill got through but not with everything that people wanted, because conservatives blocked major portions of the bill.

All of these "post-partisans" are interested in doing the work of the American people, yet the Democrats are clearly trying to do that as well, even on Iraq, and they're being blocked by the minority. These high Broderists seem to want to forget that there's such a thing as minority rights in the legislative arena. They act like, if Michael Bloomberg or one of their other deities were President, suddenly all conservatives would stop being conservative and start voting for major changes against all of their stated positions. This is old-fashioned Congressional gridlock, and I'm not saying it's good for the system. But there's no magic quick fix to it either. The answer is to put electoral pressure on the folks that are vulnerable, which the Democrats are doing by continuing to hold votes. If we get more and better Democrats in place, suddenly all of these things Broderites want to see will be implemented, but that won't be good for them either because the dirty fucking hippies will be in charge.

P.S. I like what Reid said about Lugar and friends making noise about Iraq. Less noise, more action was essentially his message.