Obviously playing politics As you might have noticed, we’ve been hard on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the last couple of months because of his seemingly obvious attempts to stonewall progress on health care, not offer any real solutions, and really just try to kill Obama dead in in the water. Which is why it’s nice to hear Arlen Specter, who caucused with the GOP at the beginning of 2009 only to switch sides, basically say it.
What the Senate needs The Senate needs some reforms, because right now it’s clearly weighted against the majority party too much. The House can get things done with a simple majority; the Senate, however, has all these useless votes and filibusters, and needs a two-thirds majority to even be useful. Arlen’s been on both sides, and he’s been a Senator long enough that his words should be heeded. Good show, man.
I think if you look at the history of the United States, the Senate has generally been a moderating force. Most things that have been pushed through Congress with slim majorities have been horrible failures that later had to be cleaned up at a high cost. When there has been a general bi-partisan support, it usually has been a positive reform that most people in the country agreed upon. The problem we have today is not in the Senate, but in the populace. The people of this country are deeply divided and the two parties do nothing but promote that division. This prevents moderate candidates from winning primaries and bringing real compromise solutions to the table. What is really needed are term limits in Congress and an end to gerrymandered districts. That would solve much more than stopping debate in the Senate - which is a positive, although messy part of democracy.
