esrosedotblog

MESSY

I got annoyed today at the delay in passing the stimulus package.

All the bickering and back and forth.

I am keenly aware that my thinking is as partisan as a lot of the bickering.

I am used to the imperial presidency where what he says he wants he gets.

Obama has wanted the opposite. And now he has it.

In a way, as I get annoyed at anyone who opposes the measures under consideration, I realize that this is a stark change.

There is dialog. There is back and forth. There is argument.

It is the American way.

Sure, some of the participants are doing their old thing, Republican or Democrat. The liberals have their lines in the sand as do the right wing.

But in the middle there are 18-20 people trying to work shit out. That is what the process should be.

I don't like it. I would like four years of edicts from our side.

But that is not the way he works and it is not the way it should work and if there is going to be change it is going to mean a lot of painful debate.

It is clear to me that enough Senators want a stimulus package that there will be one. But it might not be the one that is dear to the traditional Democrats among us.

When it comes right down to it, there is pork in the measure. Favorite old projects.

There is also good stuff.

Thrash it out. But get it done.

In the meantime, I will just try to be patient. I am sure powerless over the whole thing. All I can do is hope for the best.

By the best, I mean the possible.

Time will tell who is and who is not right about whether tax rebates stimulate or not (they do not apparently....people save the money). The point is to take some decisive action.

I like that Obama is taking the fight to them. Good for him. That is part of the process too.

Here is Andrew Sullivan today. A Brit turned American.

The Presider Gets Results

This is what happens when we have a president who is not a mere partisan tool: the Senate does its job in good faith! And so we have what the Constitution hoped for: the emergence of lawmakers able and willing to hone and finesse legislation after a healthy debate. The sane center is at work here; and David Brooks shrewdly celebrates it here. My point would simply be: Obama's understanding of his constitutional role - not as party leader or omniscient messiah, but president - will allow a space for Congress to do its job. This is a messy process. But that's what American democracy is at its best: a horrible, dissonant, slow but ultimately effective mess.
This is not the Age of Krugman, Cantor and Rove. It is the Age of Collins, Nelson and Obama.

The legislative process is as ugly as a wart. We only notice it when an earth-shattering monstrosity like the stimulus bill comes gallumphing down the track, but there is no such thing as elegant legislation. You always have to throw in a little sweetener--the museum of organized crime in Las Vegas, the military kazoo band, whatever--if you want to cobble together the votes needed to win. This is business as usual--and Barack Obama is guilty as charged: he's trying to get this thing through the old-fashioned way. So what? What's new is his priorities: his efforts to put the needs of the working poor and the unemployed ahead of the wealthy, to build a new green economy, to fund inner city education and remake the health insurance system. That is what the American people voted for after an era of Republican neglect. The messiness of the current process is not only inevitable, it also says very little about Obama's ability to deliver on those very necessary goals.

Labels: Administration Obama, constitution

OK, I WANT THE RIGHT

The battle over the Second Amendment is over for awhile.

Citizens have the right to bear arms whether they are in a militia or not.

The Supremes sang their song today.

No surprise there.

I am OK with this, incidentally. I am not a knee jerk lib.

I want the right to bear arms for myself.

I do not happen to have any arms just now but I might change my mind and if I did I wouldn't want an impediment.

I would even like to bear arms openly in a holster.

Or concealed.

Why?

Because there are some crazy fucking bastards out there and, from time to time, they can get out of control.

Oddly, I am more concerned about the crazies of the right wing than I am about gang bangers or the random serial killer.

The wing nuts say some pretty scary things. Especially about homos.

I am not a paranoid kind of guy but I know when I am threatened.

I am about to get married in the midst of some controversy.

The controversy will come to a head on the same election day that I plan to vote for our next President.

I am not naive about the repercussions if the ammendment is defeated.

That is just one example.

I had firearms in my house once. My Dad's. They made me so uncomfortable that I gave them to my son to hold on to.

So, I don't know if that would happen again. Probably.

I don't expect to bear arms. I don't think that I will ever have to. I hope to hell I do not have to. I am a lousy shot.

But I would go down shootin' if I had to. Or not. I just want the choice. Me.

Labels: constitution