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Delusional About Political Bargaining

In his continuing battle to declare President Obama powerless, Ezra Klein writes:

I'm not sure what good it does for progressives to delude themselves about Bush's success in passing pure domestic policy initiatives that easily overcame the opposition of Republican moderates, but the reality is that he saw his initiatives watered down at every turn.

Ezra goes on to recount how Bush, who LOST the popular vote and had only 50 Republicans Senators (until Jeffords switched, giving the DEMOCRATS control of the Senate), had to settle for "only" $1.65 TRILLION in tax cuts for the rich and that he hoisted a Medicare prescription drug program on conservative Republicans who did not like it. To Ezra, this proves that a President is impotent. Wow! What an idiotic post. President Bush, loser of the popular vote, with only 50 GOP senators (later only 49), got through most everything he wanted OVER the objections of his own Party stalwarts. Yep, that proves a President's impotence all right. Ezra confuses the fact that Bush's policies were disastrous with the fact that he actually had the power to enact them. Klein's apologias for President Obama are becoming more and more pathetic. Or delusional. Take your pick.

Speaking for me only

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    Jeffords voted for it AFTER (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by andgarden on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 08:07:17 AM EST
    he announced his switch. For some reason, he promised that he wasn't going to interfere with that agenda item.

    Ezra is really seeming brain dead about this.

    His writing almost seem geared (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by MO Blue on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 08:18:47 AM EST
    to convincing progressives that their cause is hopeless so why don't they sit down, shut up and meekly accept their fate.

    almost? (none / 0) (#7)
    by sj on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 09:45:17 AM EST
    I wonder if Ezra appreciates that (5.00 / 3) (#4)
    by Anne on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 08:26:02 AM EST
    he is writing himself into irrelevance.  Probably not, but with each column he has written lately he has become less relevant to me.  He seems younger, more naïve, more willing to ignore history or not study it carefully enough, and way, WAY too invested in Obama for me to take him seriously anymore.

    But, hey - maybe next up for Ezra is writing official apologia for Obama; I'm sure there's always room for another WORM-writer.


    Ironically (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Fabian on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 09:48:11 AM EST
    Most of these writers are just names on a page to me - I often have no clue as to their gender, age, ethnicity, class, political affiliation or sexual preference.

    If a writer really catches my attention, I may see a picture and obtain a smidge of information from that.

    So I really don't know who Ezra Klein is, but I do know that he writes much like a Beltway JournoList, and doesn't support much, if any, progressive ideals.  (And from the cover he gave Joe Klein, I don't think he supports journalistic ideals either.)

    Parent

    George Bush (5.00 / 6) (#6)
    by Steve M on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 08:57:15 AM EST
    awful President, but a pretty good bargainer.

    Of course, it helped that he sometimes didn't care whatsoever about the substance of the bill, like with the 2005 energy bill.  "We need an energy bill! ...now on to the next topic"  But he was very good at identifying one or two non-negotiable points, often the very things that mattered most to liberals, and insisting on them at every turn.

    Another Bush advantage is that he probably had the most supine Congress in memory.  Of course the historical combination of Republican President and Republican Congress is not easy to find.

    Finally, I think it helps that Republicans simply don't care if the media likes them.  George Bush did not sit around fretting about whether the Washington Post might be willing to praise him if only he reached out to the Democrats.  And frankly, he didn't seem to have much trouble securing the approval of the David Broders even though he didn't crave it one bit.

    odd to want to transform... (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 08:17:55 AM EST
    ...your walking/talking president into an invalid on a ventilator and feeding tube, but apparently Klein is so distraught he is helpless to stop it.

    perhaps . . . (none / 0) (#5)
    by allys gift on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 08:35:14 AM EST
    it's b/c he writes for the Washington Stepford Post now?  

    I Guess I'm Delusional, Too (none / 0) (#9)
    by Doc Rock on Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 12:34:56 PM EST
    Obama needs to start breaking some China and some heads. Tough new investigations into Bush-Cheney wrong-doing, pursue the US Attorney firings and their motivations to the nth degree, and hang out perpetrators to dry instead of allowing them to have cover. Wusses invite bullying. Break back the fairness doctrine and look into the tax-exempt status of some of these cover orgs with disinformation operations. Crack down or move out, Obama!