Senator Max Baucus' Senate Finance Committee ended up delaying, postponing and watering down the health care reform bill for months last year. It didn't have to be that way. Baucus' committee had a majority of Democrats on it. It could have passed health care reform out of his committee in short order, but, instead, his committee became a bottleneck. Why? Because Baucus decided that instead of the whole committee taking votes he would let health care be decided by a "gang of six," three Republicans and three Democrats. This whole scenario and charade was ridiculous and the results were disastrous. The Republicans' delay, delay and more delay tactics allowed for the Tea Party people to take over Town Hall meetings and for virulent TV campaign ads to be run against health care reform. And it's all Baucus' fault. Time was wasted. Health care reform could have been over and done with by now. Remember Obama wanted it settled by last August! Instead we're still on the same tortured path.
And I blame Obama for his bend-over-backward attempts at bipartisanship when it's clear that all the Republicans want is to defeat him and take power, and, when they do, they won't fiddle around with such niceties as bipartisanship. They will use every tool at their disposal to ram through their agenda. They will pounce in triumph over the Democrats.
And now Senator Chris Dodd of the Senate Banking Committee is doing the same thing with financial reform. Instead of allowing his full committee, a majority of whom are Democrats, to have decision making power, he's limiting the power to two people - himself and Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. Nice going, Dodd. As a result they decided to put the Consumer Financial Protection Agency inside the Federal Reserve instead of making it a standalone independent agency. And last I recall the Federal Reserve is a private banking institution not in any way accountable to the people of the US through their elected representatives or otherwise. And they're watering down almost everything else concerned with financial reform - this after the second worst financial meltdown in US history - directly caused by deregulation - and a $2.5 trillion bailout of the banking industry. But the bankers have just gone back to business as usual. Ho hum. Another day. Another bailout. What's the big?
And it's plain to see why Dodd is doing this: because he wants a cushy job in the banking industry after he retires this year to "spend more time with his family." This guy deliberately gives up the power that a majority of Democrats on his committee would embody in order to do what? Water down financial and banking reform. Jeez, thanks for your service, Senator Dodd. I hope you and your family will be happy with your reward from the banking industry after you retire. Thanks for setting up the country for another meltdown. But it won't affect you or your family. They will be well provided for.
So the Republicrats are at it again. Watering down, delaying, enervating themselves with legislation that should have been passed post haste in robust form by democratic majorities so they could go on to the next thing. Bending over backwards to accommodate Republicans whose barely disguised hatred of them and everything they supposedly represent is their modus vivendi et operandi. And the Republicans barely conceal their venomous disgust at Democratic attempts to appease them. This enrages them even more. They delight in calling out Democrats for not being bipartisan after the Democrats have practically licked their boots in an attempt to be nice. Democrats let Republican delays take all the oxygen out of the room, enable gargantuan TV ad campaigns to go on which denigrate and cast aspersions on them and their motives. They meekly stand by while Republicans accuse them of everything from defacing the flag to trampling on the Constitution to wanting to emulate Stalinism.
But they have eight whole months with which to do something. They have eight months in which to get something done. Regardless of their collective fates come November, they still have majorities in both Houses and the Presidency. They've frittered away a whole year of valuable time and energy trying to placate Republicans when there was no need to do so. And are the Republicans appreciative? Not in the least. So why bother? The Democrats were not elected to placate Republicans; they were elected to get something done. Instead they've wasted our and their time. But they can redeem themselves if they finally pass health care reform albeit in a greatly watered down form. And they can redeem themselves by doing the very thing Republicans are going to accuse them of doing anyway - ramming legislation through otherwise known as majority rule. And I would be relieved if the Republicans go apoplectic as the Democrats finally ram it down their throats!