Predictably and sadly the Democratic Congress, after increasing its majority in the House and Senate, has signaled that it will keep to the middle. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said after Obama’s victory, “A new president must govern from the middle,” thus inviting Obama to share her paranoiac fear of leading. Her counterpart in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "This is not a mandate for a political party or an ideology," Harry? Did you hit your head? Have you been taking your meds? Do you know what a mandate is?
Obama beat McCain by 8 million popular votes, and 364 electoral votes. Seven new democratic governors were elected, and seven state legislatures went to democratic majorities, but Harry, frightened out of his wits, shares Pelosi’s terror of leadership. How did these two fall into their positions? More importantly, how can they be removed? Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said, “Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.”
Politicians, of all people, must be passionately committed to their ideologies. The republicans, as misguided and authoritarian as they are, at least have the courage to say what they think, and to act on their beliefs. Harry Reid and Speaker Pelosi are whipping Joe Lieberman like a yellow dog now that Lieberman’s vote is no longer crucial. Joe lost in the Connecticut Primary, and had to run as an Independent to get elected. His was the tie breaking vote, and he used it to blackmail Reid into giving him the Chairmanship of the ”Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.” But if Pelosi and Reid believe that the middle is the best ground, than why are they inviting a Senator, who votes with the democrats almost 90% of the time, to cross over to the dark side?
The democrats, painfully aware of their reputations as wimps of the century, saw a chance to act like dervishes on the warpath. As they assure Americans they’ll be reaching across the aisle, they’re busy crucifying Lieberman so they can look tough, even though they’re weakening their own position. It’s not easy sympathizing with Joe, but his voting record can’t be denied. Joe will be stripped of his chairmanship, and Pelosi and Reid will look like the Rock and Hulk Hogan. If only Pelosi and Reid could find the same courage to stand up unconditionally for their new president. But they are much more comfortable inviting Obama into their own tepid purgatory. Politicians who refuse to commit to their beliefs - who are afraid to take a stand - are as useless as yesterday’s news.
It’s going to anger the millions of voters who supported Obama when the Congressional Leadership second guesses everything he does. Pelosi and Reid rolled over when Bush wanted his war. They saluted smartly every time Bush weakened the Constitution. They couldn’t act fast enough when the financial industry took a wrecking ball to the economy, then begged the Bush Administration for $700 billion of the taxpayers money. Bush is arguably the most impeachable president ever to hold office, but Pelosi, terrified of exerting her power as Speaker said, “impeachment is off the table” Watch for the Democratic Congress to erect obstacles to impede Obama’s attempts to repair the damage done over the last 8 years. Pelosi and Reid will imagine that obstinacy and obstruction will be seen as strength.
