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Random commentary and senseless acts of blogging.
The first Republican president once said, "While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." If Mr. Lincoln could see what's happened in these last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. Blog critics Gryffindor House Slytherin House Ravenclaw House House Elves Beth Jacob Prisoners of Azkaban Muggles
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The First 100 Blah Blah Blah As we head into a blizzard of pointless rehashes of Obama's first 100 days, it's worth noting that this navel gazing, which is irrelevant for most presidencies, is even more so for Obama's. Most presidents hit town with an opposition that is willing, at least for the moment, to go along with much of what the new team plans, particularly when the new president's plans are pretty much the same ones that he won by a large margin campaigning on. Obama's decision to make the stimulus his first big bill was undoubtedly in part due to the urgency of the situation, but it was also probably intended to take advantage of this tendency and gain a bipartisan vote for his first major initiative. After all, a stimulus bill is mostly a whole bunch of spending, and Congress generally likes nothing better than to spend money and bring goodies back for the home district. Of course, that plan fell apart, and Obama faced nearly unanimous opposition from the minority, as he clearly will on every other major bill. This means, among other things, that Obama will have the most political wind at his back not over the last 100 days, but later this year, after Franken is sworn in, giving him one less vote he needs to break a filibuster. That's even more true now that Specter has gone over. And he will likely have even more freedom after the midterms, which look to be another Democratic win, and could well be another blowout if there is even a modest movement toward recovery by next November. |
