David Broder on All Topics
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“There is a great divide in American politics. It's not between Democrats and Republicans. It's between the president and Congress in Washington, on one side, and governors and legislators around the country on the other.”
“It seems doubtful from what has been reported that Rangel will be able to resume control of the powerful committee that handles taxes, trade and big chunks of health care. But his decision to ask for a leave of absence from the chairmanship, which followed his closed-door meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is a matter of regret to many -- not least, Sandy Levin.”
“Obama has courted that risk knowingly because he thinks -- as I do -- that the nation really is in peril. His party in Congress and its leadership are too often more narrow-minded and parochial than the president. And the Republicans have chosen the easy path of near-unanimous opposition. None of this would rise above the level of petty Washington gossip except that some of Emanuel's friends are so eager to exonerate him that they are threatening to undermine the president”
“Armed with McInturff's evidence that those who have been following the debate most closely and those most likely to vote in November are swinging to the Republican side of the argument -- just as they did in 1994 -- the GOP legislators at Obama's summit resisted his efforts to draw them onto common ground.”
“Sitting here in the snows of Washington, despairing about the Congress I cover, it was the rare bit of good news Sunday when Lisa P. Jackson, the director of the Environmental Protection Agency, gave the governors of the Great Lakes states the 40-page "action plan" the federal and state governments have developed to protect and improve these incomparable resources.”
“Scheppach told me that the realization is beginning to spread, among governors and legislators, that this is no ordinary downturn and there will be no quick bounce-back. Therefore, "the states will have to downsize permanently," he said.”
“I cannot fault Bayh for leaving, nor can I disagree with his statement that "short-term political advantage" trumped the national interest in this case and in many others in this sorry excuse for a Congress.”
“Looking at the campaigns in Massachusetts and Illinois, the first two states to vote this year, it is clear as can be that voters are trying desperately to figure out how to change the dynamics of Washington. They will support candidates in either party who offer hope of stifling the poisonous partisanship and addressing the real-world problems of jobs, deficits and health care. But Obama does not have to wait for the voters to change Congress -- which they will do, come November. He can, as his friend from Springfield days reminded him, start that change now by being himself.”
“Obama is right in saying this Congress cannot simply walk away from health-care reform. It has to try again, with an invitation to Republicans and Democrats to make lowering costs the prime objective and not quitting until there is agreement on a plan.”
“Such direct confrontations between the branches of the federal government are almost unprecedented, and they set the stage for what ought to be a serious debate.”
“As President Obama delivered his first formal State of the Union address, the reigning journalistic cliche described the "angry, frustrated electorate" he confronts. If you want to know where this anger should really be directed, look at the Tuesday Senate roll call and focus on the 22 Democrats, 23 Republicans and one independent who combined to scuttle what one sponsor has called "the last, best hope" to avert a catastrophe.”
“On Tuesday night, when underdog Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, Cornyn and his boss, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, suddenly had the power -- with 41 votes -- to filibuster and defeat any legislation on which they were united.”
“Politically, he is notably weaker than when he began. Not, as some of his critics maintain, because the voters have tuned him out or become indifferent to his well-crafted speeches but because none of the goals most important to the American people have been achieved.”
“What I know is that the Senate will be a poorer place, in both human and political terms, without Chris Dodd in its membership.”
“Was Christmas Day 2009 the same kind of wake-up call for Barack Obama that Sept. 11, 2001, had been for George W. Bush?”
