Welcome To The Majority
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are getting their first taste of majority leadership in Congress, and it probably doesn't taste good.
No, it's not the chicken and rice pilaf of fund raising dinners they are tasting, but the stinging words of columnists that are generally reserved for the majority folks in Congress.
Robert Novak's syndicated column takes on Pelosi, and her endorsement of John Murtha for Majority Leader in the House and what it's costing her. David Broder takes on the challenges facing Harry Reid, and why he may not be up to them.
While Pelosi is blowing political capital, a form of money that's seldom well spent, on supporting Murtha, she still has the advantage of being in charge of a body where a majority actually does rule. She'll lose a few folks on certain votes because of the back stabbing of Steny Hoyer, but will survive this episode.
Reid though, now has to play in a chamber where 60 votes are required to get anything done, and only has a 1 vote majority. Coupled with that, the one vote is an independent who disagrees with Reid on what the Democrats consider their most important item, Iraq.
Reid's job is made tougher by the fact that for the last few years he's been the chief obstructionist in the Senate, playing the 60 vote rule on ending debate for all it's worth. If he comes out and cries foul the first time it's done to him (which won't take long) the wolves will be on him like a wounded sheep.
While it's generally understood that you take the Minority Leaders and elevate them to the Majority posts when your party takes control of Congress, this might have been one time when the Democrats would have been better off elevating new leadership, especially in the Senate.
Reid's history as a bridge burner is going to make it tough for him to build any to the nine votes he'll need from the right to get anything significant through his chamber. With four years worth of sound bites and snide comments on record, he now has to convince the people he refused to budge with why they should help him out.
Pelosi's challenge is easier because of the size of her majority, but she'll still have to keep the blue dogs in her camp when it comes to the sizable spending initiatives on her agenda. She'll end up spending the month after today's vote for House leadership soothing bruised egos to get everyone lined up in her camp, time that could be better spent working on the actual agenda for the 110th Congress.
Welcome to the microscoped life that is the Majority leadership Harry and Nancy, the excuse that you are the minority is gone, now you have to figure out how to get things accomplished, with tons of pesky columnists writing about it all the time.
Technorati Tags: Pelosi, Reid, Senate, House, Majority, Murtha, Hoyer, Politics, Congress, Broder, Novak
No, it's not the chicken and rice pilaf of fund raising dinners they are tasting, but the stinging words of columnists that are generally reserved for the majority folks in Congress.
Robert Novak's syndicated column takes on Pelosi, and her endorsement of John Murtha for Majority Leader in the House and what it's costing her. David Broder takes on the challenges facing Harry Reid, and why he may not be up to them.
While Pelosi is blowing political capital, a form of money that's seldom well spent, on supporting Murtha, she still has the advantage of being in charge of a body where a majority actually does rule. She'll lose a few folks on certain votes because of the back stabbing of Steny Hoyer, but will survive this episode.
Reid though, now has to play in a chamber where 60 votes are required to get anything done, and only has a 1 vote majority. Coupled with that, the one vote is an independent who disagrees with Reid on what the Democrats consider their most important item, Iraq.
Reid's job is made tougher by the fact that for the last few years he's been the chief obstructionist in the Senate, playing the 60 vote rule on ending debate for all it's worth. If he comes out and cries foul the first time it's done to him (which won't take long) the wolves will be on him like a wounded sheep.
While it's generally understood that you take the Minority Leaders and elevate them to the Majority posts when your party takes control of Congress, this might have been one time when the Democrats would have been better off elevating new leadership, especially in the Senate.
Reid's history as a bridge burner is going to make it tough for him to build any to the nine votes he'll need from the right to get anything significant through his chamber. With four years worth of sound bites and snide comments on record, he now has to convince the people he refused to budge with why they should help him out.
Pelosi's challenge is easier because of the size of her majority, but she'll still have to keep the blue dogs in her camp when it comes to the sizable spending initiatives on her agenda. She'll end up spending the month after today's vote for House leadership soothing bruised egos to get everyone lined up in her camp, time that could be better spent working on the actual agenda for the 110th Congress.
Welcome to the microscoped life that is the Majority leadership Harry and Nancy, the excuse that you are the minority is gone, now you have to figure out how to get things accomplished, with tons of pesky columnists writing about it all the time.
Technorati Tags: Pelosi, Reid, Senate, House, Majority, Murtha, Hoyer, Politics, Congress, Broder, Novak
posted by Crazy Politico at 4:25 AM
2Comments:
I have been listening all day on news stations and on Blogs to news stations trying to make a big deal over Pelosi's leadership abilities. I am sick of hearing Bay Buchanon trying to belittle Pelosi whenever possible.
The decisions have been made now it is time to move forward for our America. I have said for a long time that in order to do that successfully we must first beat down the Repub disinformation Juggernaut and that is still the case
Instead of unifying they will continue to play childish games and try to create division wherever possible for their political gain. I only hope that now that people have woken up to their games that it will continue to work against them.
That "childish games" issue is a two way street, unfortunately. So is a disinformation machine a two party machine. When we, the people, allowed the two party's to codify the two party system we also allowed them to keep any real dissent from being heard.
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