So who’s surprised?
According to Politico’s Daniel W. Reilly and Jim Vandehei, the Democrats have had a hard time trying to keep their campaign promises;
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is discovering the cold truth about governing with a slim majority: It’s much easier to promise behavioral change for Congress than to deliver it.
Pelosi vowed that five-day workweeks would be a hallmark of a harder-working Democratic majority. So far, the House has logged only one. Lawmakers plan to clock three days this week.
The speaker has denied Republicans a vote on their proposals during congressional debates — a tactic she previously declared oppressive and promised to end. Pelosi has opened the floor to a Republican alternative just once.
Pelosi set a high standard for herself when she pledged to make this “the most ethical Congress in history” — a boast that was the political equivalent of leading with her chin. And some critics have been happy to hit it.
So who’s surprised? This is the same party who controlled Congress for 50 years and are still complaining about the same policy changes they’ve been complaining about for 50 years. Democrats aren’t in the business of conducting business, they’re in the business of keeping their jobs.
They complain that Republicans stand in their way of accomplishing their agenda, but since they hold the majority they shouldn’t be having these problems, should they? Even back in ’94 when they tried and failed at creating a national health care system, they blamed Republicans for their own party members who wouldn’t vote for the measure.
The Democrats need crises to retain power – they need the hand-wringing mutton heads to be scared into voting. Look at their big “Bush is going to start the draft again” push in the 2004 election when they realized that Americans weren’t being scared over the war.
Even Harry reid is having problems with his Senate majority. AP reports that he’ll have to delay debate on the Democrats’ plan to revisit the 2002 authorization for war;
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said Monday he wanted to delay votes on a measure that would repeal the 2002 war authorization and narrow the mission in Iraq.
Senior Democrats who drafted the proposal, including Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and Carl Levin of Michigan, had sought swift action on it as early as this week, when the Senate takes up a measure to enact the recommendations of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission.
Reid, who will huddle with Democrats Tuesday to discuss whether to postpone the Iraq debate, cited pressure from victims’ families for quick action on the Sept. 11 bill as the reason for doing so.
What victims? The victims of what? The Democrats are finally figuring out that their most vocal supporters are a tiny majority in this country – they realize that their mandate is no mandate at all.
Since they didn’t have a plan before the election and they pulled the Murtha slow-bleed plan out of their collective ass after the election, Americans aren’t as pleased with Democrats as Democrats thought they’d be.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., meanwhile, said she doesn’t support tying war funding to strict training and readiness targets for U.S. troops.
The comments distanced her from Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who has said he wants to use Congress’ spending power to force a change in policy in Iraq, by setting strict conditions on war funding.
Even Murtha is becoming a lightening rod, apparently. So I guess being in the majority isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when people expect you to actually work and make policy.
Category: John Murtha, Politics
