Ezra Klein has this take on Republican obstructionism in the Senate up on his blog and I must say he has hit the nail on the head.
The real question here is why 58 Democrats can't pass the president's top priority. We're learning that the minority still controls the Senate. So long as Republicans fundamentally don't want a bill to pass, they can make virtually limitless demands. The worst that happens is that Democrats simply give up and admit failure to the American people. Put another way: The worst that happens is overwhelming success. The trick is making sure the demands seem reasonable rather than obstructionist. But that's not too hard. Republicans know full well that they won't actually be forced to publicly filibuster the bill and defend their obstructionism while Democrats fan out across the news shows to warn of the economic dangers. Instead, Harry Reid will ask how the bill can be made smaller and leaner and more Republican. And maybe, for this, he'll get the crucial two votes assuring passage of an insufficient measure, the failure of which Republicans will run against in 2010.
I have long been pissed off over Reid's ,and Senate Democrats' in general, willingness to just let the Republican's push them around with the threat of a filibuster.
MAKE. THEM. ACTUALLY. FILIBUSTER.
That would mean that the Republicans would have to get up and talk and talk and talk about why they don't like the stimulus bill while, as Klein points out, Democrats can in turn hit the airwaves and point out that the Republicans want the economy to fail etc etc.
Also, while I am very excited that Obama is our President, Reid and Pelosi have fundamentally failed to deal with Republican obstructionism and I am worried that Obama's dedication to bipartisanship etc has and will leave him and his administration unprepared to fight back against Congressional Republicans either.
Crap.
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