I hope my right-leaning friends and relatives take no offense when I compare the Republican Congressional leadership to kidnappers who have abducted a child off the street and have no intention of ever returning him, but who continually call the parents demanding ransom money and insisting the negotiations are in good faith. This child – let’s call him Functioning Government – isn’t safe. Early on, one of the abductors let slip that he wanted to drown him in a bathtub no matter what happened. The parents have kept answering the calls and playing along because they don’t know what else to do.
Leaving aside that provocative imagery, Democrats, frustrated by the GOP’s unprecedented level of obstructionism on everything from high ticket items to inoffensive cabinet positions, are investigating ways to negate the negative impact of the Party of No. President Obama is floating the trial balloon of recess appointments, something his predecessor used when he made appointments that were justly controversial. Vice President Biden, meanwhile, is cautiously exploring the prospect of adjusting Senate filibuster rules so that every piece of legislation does not require a supermajority’s consent. He and his colleagues remain wary, mindful of how easily the political winds change direction in Washington.
It would be nice to see how Obama succeeds or fails when he can’t blame arcane parliamentary rules for gumming up the works, but I don’t hold out much Hope for Change.
