Hey, there, sports fans, I’m in Harrisburg today for Thanksgiving with the fam. I have to head out in a sec to see if I can scrounge up some last minute stuffing ingredients. (bread cubes, sage sausage, apples, walnuts, celery, onions, chicken broth, egg and yes, I stuff the bird. Deal with it, germophobes). There’s a 22 lb fresh turkey waiting in the walk in fridge, aka The Garage. This year, we’re going to try a countertop roasting device type thingy. Never tried this before but my mom says I can’t use the oven because other people have to cook. (???) Hokay, whatever.
Anyway, I haven’t had a lot of time to gather news yesterday and today, what with packing and driving and shooting the breeze with the aunts and cousins and stuff. So, this will be brief. Make of it what you will.
For those readers who are still clinging to the idea that “Hillary wouldn’t have been any better”, check out Anglachel’s post on To the Right of Lincoln. Lincoln, in this case, refers to Blanche Lincoln. Anglachel dissects Obama’s tendency towards right wing policies. Very convincing. As for Hillary, she’s a tireless, dedicated public servant who the world admires, she’s doing a laudable job running the state department, gay state department employees and their families are serving with dignity, respect and equality, and she’s been a passionate defender of reproductive rights. Sooooo, you Obama apologists are probably wrong. She would have been MUCH better than Obama.
Matt Yglesias’ prescription for Obama’s next two years? Do nothing and make Congress look bad. Yep, even the guys that are on your side. To do otherwise would be “politically toxic”.
Something slightly distinctive from these ideas that I would emphasize are the President’s myriad opportunities to not do anything. Scott Brown and Ron Wyden have an interesting idea about state waivers under the Affordable Care Act, and I think it’d be brilliant of the White House to do . . . absolutely nothing about this. Let Senator Brown try to build Republican support for it. Maybe he’ll succeed, maybe he’ll fail, maybe it’ll be an interesting intra-caucus fight, maybe nobody will care. Either way, the President will be doing something else and it’s someone else who’ll be associated with the legislative sausage making or the failure of the sausage to get made. Similarly, Senators Coburn and DeMint seem to be interested in provoking a fight over ethanol subsidies. The White House should . . . ignore this. With luck, they’ll succeed. Without luck, they’ll fail. But either way, the President shouldn’t get sucked into a political debate for or against ethanol subsidies.
The important thing is to understand that even though a certain number of Washington DC political professionals regard it warmly, the United States Congress is a widely (and in my view, appropriately) despised institution. The only way to get an ambitious legislative agenda passed is for the President to deeply engage with Congress, but deeply engaging with Congress is politically toxic. With John Boehner as Speaker of the House, no “ambitious legislative agenda” is ever going to pass so the White House should simply check out. Tell reporters to ask members of congress the questions about congress. Keep busy doing other stuff. Give wannabe congressional dealmakers space to make deals. Let congressional jerks go be jerks. If something terrible passes, veto it. Don’t negotiate. If you don’t want rich people’s taxes cut, don’t sign a bill that cuts don’t. Don’t hold meetings. Then go back to working on all the stuff in CAP’s report.
{{pause to let that sink in}}
Why can’t I get paid to write stupid things in The Atlantic?
So, let me get this straight: you’ve just lost your majorities because your policies are lame, the House is now run by a bunch of predators posing as hysterical drama queens who can’t WAIT to get their bloody hands on social security, 10% of your citizens are still unemployed and burning through their 401Ks to stay afloat and the advice you are given is to sit on your hands until 2012 because this is the best way to ensure your own re-election. Do not attempt to champion policies that the public might like even if you may not eventually win the day. Run against your own people. This will look good to the voting public.
Because the voting public consists solely of people like Matt Yglesias?? Fine by me. Obama doesn’t deserve a second term and this seems like the best way to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Ok, I really have to go stuff the bird now. They’ll be all over my case if it’s not cooking by 10. Slave drivers.
Leave some links in the comments. I’ll check back later.
Don’t eat too much. (Yeah, who am I fooling?)
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The Confluence 