The pundit class will now figure fifty reasons the election went the way it did, while playing the Paul Simon song "There Must Be 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" in the background.Dredd Blog tries to figure these things out ahead of time, so if you want to know this blog's take on it, read this post which links to earlier posts dealing with the subject: Democrats Pay How Much For War?
But the smarter focus now is probably to ask what the results of the election portend, that is, what will change and what will not?
Hundreds of bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives (House) have been stalled in the U.S. Senate (Senate) for some time now:
Exasperated House Democratic leaders have compiled a list showing that they have passed 290 bills that have stalled in the Senate.(The Hill, Feb. 2010). That is not likely to change now that the Republicans have taken over the majority in the House, because the Democrats kept the majority in the Senate.
The list is the latest sign that Democrats in the lower chamber are frustrated with their Senate counterparts.
Nothing of consequence in terms of environmental, economic, or war ending legislation is likely to go anywhere.
That does not bode well for a future where more Americans may be losing their minds than may be losing houses, jobs, and health care.
The next two years are going to be high political farce, as the finger pointing and scapegoating accelerate going into a presidential election year and the repudiation of Obama and the yellow stripe democrats. The right's primary tactic will be obstruction and obfuscation, but as always, they will successfully tar and feather the dems in the minds of voters. Rightfully so, since the dems primary tactic will once again be kowtowing to their GOP masters in the name of "bipartisanship." The irrepressible Harry Reid - won't that sad sack EVER go away? - just said as much on the Today Show.
ReplyDeleteWhat this election told me was that Obama's abandonment of his "far left lunatic fringe base," as the MSM and even White House insiders liked to refer to us as, was the death knell for his joke of a presidency. Obama's been in bed with the GOP and corporate America since taking office, and all I can say is, I sure hope he's comfortable in there, cause for the next two years he's gonna wish he could just stay there all day every day.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, as Obama figures out where his remaining support actually lies, I would expect, with the cooperation of the GOP congress, the war drums to start beating in earnest again. As W proved all to well, nothing spells reelection like a good shooting war and the aura of a resolute Commander in Chief. I'd look for Obama to play the war card in Iran and/or North Korea in an effort to solidify his REAL base, moderate Republicans. It won't be enough to save him, but he'll be paid off handsomely either way, and we'll be listening to his nauseating "elder statesman" spiel for the next several decades, as he retires to the high life of the moneyed American leisure class.
What a racket!
The Blue Dog Coalition who have a "D" after their name, but who vote with Republicans quite often, lost 50% of their caucus membership in the House. The Progressive caucus in the House did not.
ReplyDeleteThat should dissuade anyone who can take a warning.
Left = peace, balanced budgets, taking care of Americans, lose the propaganda
Right = just the opposite
And with both the liberal left and hard right conservative bases abandoning their respective "parties" in droves, things are coming together quite nicely for a Palin run at the White House in 2012. As a possible third or split party candidate, we could very well see an outcome like 1992, where "Billy Bob" never would have been elected were it not for an irritating little nasally-voiced third party twerp named Ross Perot.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for the entrenched powers that be, an imploded economy and double digit unemployment would favor the outsider this time, no matter what his or her perceived lack of qualifications for office might be. As neither party has any answers for any of the problems facing us currently, I put her odds (conservatively) at 50/50 for now. Very interesting times ahead here in the good ol' US of A.
The propaganda begins ("I can see social security from my house").
ReplyDeleteMorning Joe has a list of guests that are setting forth the neoCon, MOMCOM originated doctrine of anti-entitlements.
Insurance is an "entitlement" in this propaganda storm, unless those "entitlements" are going to MOMCOM, where it is then called "the cost of your freedom".
You work all your life, paying for your social security insurance, then they take it away and give it to MOMCOM, who spends more on WMD, armies, and rich generals, than the rest of the industrial nations combined.
Is life insurance an "entitlement" too? Give me a break.
These greedy MOMCOM whores are out to destroy America and blame it on the "politicians".
Fortunately the neoCons will have a hard time whacking social security, because everyone knows they are liars if their lips are moving, and the Senate won't risk it.
ReplyDeleteIt will be easier to privatize the wars, which won't happen either.
Social Security and entitlements will die the death of a thousand cuts, since cutting them outright is untenable for either party. Think no more cost of living hikes, lower payouts, higher retirement ages, check delays, etc., not to mention plain old dollar debasement through reckless monetary policies. There's a million ways they can give us the shaft without having to pay an overt political price.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey Randy, while we weren't looking they've largely privatized the actual "war" in Iraq already, with more to come for Afghanistan and whatever's next on the way. They don't call it the revolving door for nothing.
Privatizing wars means let mercenaries do it outright, with little government oversight. Like the drug business.
ReplyDeleteWar is a function of government, not private companies, even though as you say, the government subs out lots of it.
Millions of people have been ordered to Iraq and Afghanistan by the military, not by private companies.
Fewer, by orders of magnitude, have been mercenaries.
The private corporations who induce the government to send soldiers & weaponry into wars are making the biggest bucks.