As luck would have it, my representative is House Majority Leader. He just received the following email, and will get a similar phone call later today.
Dear Majority Leader Hoyer,
The sounds of dismay coming from Democratic members of Congress in the aftermath of the Massachusetts special election are disturbing. True, that seat was the 60th vote against a filibuster. Democrats still have sizable majorities in both houses, and the nation needs this bill. Now is the time for our elected officials to show the leadership implied by their positions, not wring their hands.
Republicans have more or less had their way for over twenty years, in large part because they have shown will. I truly believe their goals are misguided and selfish, but they have shown the will to get their way. Now it’s time for the Democrats to show they, too, have will.
I understand the political realities. The bills that have been passed, especially by the Senate, do not, in my opinion, go far enough. They are still great improvements in the system that exists now. Go to your peers and ask which of them would be willing to tell a parent his child will die because the parents can’t afford insurance, or tell a child he will soon be orphaned because a nation with our wealth refuses to take care of its less fortunate. Health care is not an abstract concept. People die from its lack every day.
Many Democrats say the Massachusetts loss means it’s time to dial back their legislative ambitions. I would remind them the nation gave Democrats their substantial majorities precisely because of those ambitions. To abandon them now would be to repudiate the mandate handed you in 2008, and leave the field open for the Republicans, who are at least willing to act forcefully for what they want to do.
This can be the Democrats’ finest moment, as I truly believe health care reforms will become as popular as Social Security and Medicare, both of which Democrats enacted over Republican opposition. Speak out. Twist some arms. Use the legislative power available to the majority. Not to continue on the course we were promised is to abdicate your responsibilities, making the party not worthy of re-election. History remembers fondly those who dare.
Sincerely,
Dana King
Laurel MD
4 comments:
Dear Dana:
You're about 11 months too late.
Remember when I mentioned how Obama had a very limited time to get something done and that HE should be taking charge, (arm twisting, etc.)?
I know, it was part of the boring, same old lines/get some new materials, etc. that drove some on the "so-called left" batshit.
This isn't an I told you so about the above, but it is an I told you so about the party.
They're useless to the people who put their faith in them. In a few years their collective incompetence (which starts at the top, make no mistake), will turn power back over to those a shade or two to their right ... and the people will get screwed again (a shade or two worse than now).
The sooner Americans think outside the box, the sooner will come real change. Until then, you might as well send your letter to Mars because nobody in Washington will read it ... and if they do, they'll file it two seconds later ... yes, there.
Obama's window of opportunity has slammed shut. He had "X" amount of time to use that great political capital and he spent that time jetting around the world.
It reminds me of the last clown to sit in the oval office and how he wasted his political capital after 9-11 ... the only difference is he (a criminal, make no mistake), managed to pass legislation with a majority and then minority Congress.
Go figure ...
By the way ... it's why I proposed to the "so-called left" they quit wasting their time dicking around with insults to the insignificants (Palin, Limbaugh, Beck, etc.). Notice they kept out of Mass? They'll take credit today, but they weren't near this Brown character the way Obama tried to fly to the rescue.
So long as blind faith dems point fingers at the right and ignore THE GUY WITH THE POWER TO DO SOMETHING ... THE GUY WITH THE POWER TO DO SOMETHING doesn't sweat out the LEFT.
And what they get for all their Republican bashing is Tuesday.
Now they have 2010 to look forward to ... a super tuesday, if you will.
I cannot begin to tell how disgusted I am with all of this. As Ezra Klein noted in yesterday's Post, the Democrats are proving themselves incapable of governing.
Don't feel too bad ... it took me 40+ years to come to the same conclusion ... then I went and veered right (over terrorism) and was proved wrong yet again.
Now that the Supreme Court just gave Corporations a little more power than they already had (insuring the two party system for a long time to come), it's pretty much a done deal ... the next genuine change will be a revolution but I'll be long dead, I'm sure, before that happens.
I feel your pain, brother ... but so long as the Dems and Reps get the votes come election times, real change will lag at all our expense.
Listening to Obama talk tough about the banks right now is the penultimate hypocrisy. Is this guy kidding? After what he just gave away (bailouts, tax breaks on the bailouts and not a single piece of oversight legislation). I know it’s hard, but Dems need to realize this guy was all show and zero substance.
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