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[New Republic] Why the Democrats Can't Govern
New Republic ^ | 30 mar 09 | Jonathan Chait

Posted on 03/30/2009 10:11:28 AM PDT by rellimpank

The last Democrat who held the White House, Bill Clinton, saw the core of his domestic agenda come to ruin, his political support collapse, and his failure spawn a massive Republican resurgence that made progressive reform impossible for a decade to come. The Democrat who last held the White House before that, Jimmy Carter, saw the exact same thing happen to him.

At this early date, nobody can know whether or not Barack Obama will escape this fate. But the contours of failure are now clearly visible. In Obama's case, as with his predecessors, the prospective culprit is the same: Democrats in Congress, and especially the Senate. At a time when the country desperately needs a coherent response to the array of challenges it faces, the congressional arm of the Democratic Party remains mired in fecklessness, parochialism, and privilege. Obama has made mistakes, as did his predecessors. Yet the constant recurrence of legislative squabbling and drift suggests a deeper problem than any characterological or tactical failures by these presidents: a congressional party that is congenitally unable to govern.

(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 111th; bho44; chait; democrats; elections; obama; obamatruthfile; tnr
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--interesting commentary from the enemy side--
1 posted on 03/30/2009 10:11:29 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

They have the wrong philosophy on everything . . . that’s why.


2 posted on 03/30/2009 10:13:34 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: rellimpank

Democrats in Washington do not want to “Govern”, they want to rule.


3 posted on 03/30/2009 10:13:51 AM PDT by RC2 (http://www.youtube.com/user/Funbobbasso)
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To: rellimpank

Democrats are unable to govern because they never stop campaigning. Instead, they continue to act in a permanent adversarial capacity, never pausing for a moment to do the hard work of governance: formulating coherent policies, building coalitions, and making decisive choices between competing alternatives. Obama is just the latest example of the trend begun by Bill Clinton: every speech is a campaign speech and each initiative is promoted not by explanation and outreach but by attack and demand.


4 posted on 03/30/2009 10:20:07 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh (You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.)
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To: rellimpank

They all live like Kings now.

They really want to be crowned Kings as well... for all to know and see.

Homage expected.


5 posted on 03/30/2009 10:21:08 AM PDT by geologist (The only answer to the troubles of this life is Jesus. A decision we all must make.)
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To: rellimpank

The real Democrat problem, in my opinion, is that their campaign promises are different from their actions once elected. When you run on lies, its hard to accomplish your true agenda.


6 posted on 03/30/2009 10:21:25 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Global Warming Theory is extremely robust with respect to data. All observations confirm it)
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To: rellimpank

As always, complaining that he can’t move his socialist agenda fast enough, because of apathy on the part of less ideological folks, like Congress.


7 posted on 03/30/2009 10:24:14 AM PDT by Chaguito
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To: norwaypinesavage
--IMHO, it's the same with them as in my entire lifetime.

Basically, you promise everybody everything--and really mean little of it beyond the Roosevelt II dictum, We will tax and spend, tax and spend"--

8 posted on 03/30/2009 10:25:40 AM PDT by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the MSM tells you about firearms or explosives--NRA Benefactor)
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To: rellimpank
I notice that he didn't mention the mindless “diversity is Strength” chant of the liberal democrat left.

But his article - and I'm certain that he didn't mean it to - does put the lie to that Orwellian doublespeak.

In part, they cannot govern effectively because they are not unified in principle, only in opposition.
It is a rainbow coalition after all, and all of the sub groups have their own agendas...

9 posted on 03/30/2009 10:26:59 AM PDT by bill1952 (Power is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: bill1952

Obummer, Reid and Pelosi as well as the other stooges like Dodd, Frank and Schumer have so governed so far to the left, they actually make Clinton look like a right wing conservative by comparison and this kind of absolute bumbling will create a conservative republican tidal wave in 2010 and these dems have nobody to blame but themselves for it.


10 posted on 03/30/2009 10:35:54 AM PDT by Ev Reeman
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To: geologist
Homage expected.

Yea, and I think they have a very rude awakening coming. The world's wealthy elite want to rule the world. They just don't want to do it from a politician's position where they have to answer to 'the people'.(trash)

Seems possible to me that, now that they have stolen all the treasuries from world's wealthy populations they will be able to make governments bow down to them. The useful idiots like Zero and even his title will become worthless to the globalists holding all the money.

May sound far-fetched but these are some pretty weird times.

11 posted on 03/30/2009 10:38:48 AM PDT by houeto (I see Obama voters...and it's changed my tipping habits.)
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To: rellimpank
I can think of a couple of reasons that appear to have escaped the notice of the NR staff - first, that the Dems want it all and they want it now, which is not a recipe for a broad base of support. That enthusiasm always trends toward the radical, which is by definition a minority point of view. A majority in seats turns into a minority in votes when you do that.

Second, that there is a definite rift in the Democratic party centered around its urban bases. New York is miffed at Boston's defection in support of Chicago (or Obama probably wouldn't have been nominated) and took some retaliation in the form of slamming the door on Carolyn Kennedy, that sort of stuff. Yes, the Democrats rule, but who rules the Democrats? That happens less with the Republicans because their own base is less concentrated around specific urban areas.

Third is the fact that many facets of this "progressive" legislation package tend to work against one another. Simultaneously attempting to encourage business and clamp down on environmental restrictions works to build "green" businesses only in the imaginations of theorists who want their cake and want to eat it too - such a sea change works only very slowly where it works at all and mostly it doesn't. In the meantime the eco-zealots are pulling one way and the union people the other. Tough to maintain party solidarity in the face of that.

But underlying it all is the bald fact that the Dems are in based on nothing more than a vague, gooey "We're not Bush" approach to politics. That may have been good enough to get elected but it isn't good enough to govern.

12 posted on 03/30/2009 10:40:30 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: houeto

I’m posting these founder comments for consideration on a few threads ... they are right on ...

Quote from Woodrow Wilson

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

__________________________________________________________

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and the corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON

_________________________________________________________


13 posted on 03/30/2009 10:50:24 AM PDT by geologist (The only answer to the troubles of this life is Jesus. A decision we all must make.)
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To: houeto

I’m posting these founder comments for consideration on a few threads ... they are right on ...

Quote from Woodrow Wilson

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

__________________________________________________________

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and the corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON

_________________________________________________________


14 posted on 03/30/2009 10:50:24 AM PDT by geologist (The only answer to the troubles of this life is Jesus. A decision we all must make.)
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To: rellimpank

Yes, from one of the original organs of the Progressives.


15 posted on 03/30/2009 10:50:26 AM PDT by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: rellimpank

They can’t govern appropriately because, on the whole, the Democrat ranks are filled with people who are essentially spoiled children, regardless of their chronological age.


16 posted on 03/30/2009 10:54:20 AM PDT by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: A_Former_Democrat
RE: wrong philosophy on everything

once-in-a-generation chance for the Democratic Party to reshape the priorities of the federal government--to reduce America's unsustainable carbon emissions and reform its bloated, cruel health care system.
17 posted on 03/30/2009 10:56:42 AM PDT by flowerplough (52% of us with incomes over $200k voted for Obama and 60% of those earning under $30K did, too.)
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To: Ev Reeman

There will be NO Pubbie tidal wave next year. May gain a few seats in the House but could actually fall under 40 in the Senate giving the Rats filibuster proof majorities. This is because the Pubbies have more seats to defend and 4 of those are open seats in purple states like Ohio and Missouri. Now if Dodd were somehow to lose, then maybe they can play to a draw. This isn’t going away anytime soon. Get used to Washington ramming their power down your throat.


18 posted on 03/30/2009 11:09:21 AM PDT by bombthrower
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To: RC2

Democrats in Washington do not want to “Govern”, they want to rule.

“I’m with the Government, and I’m here to help myself.”


19 posted on 03/30/2009 11:14:20 AM PDT by Clioman
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To: bombthrower

There will be NO Pubbie tidal wave next year.

I agree.

The media will drone on and on about how ALL these economic problems are GW Bush and the GOPs fault.

The sheeple will eagerly lap it up.

Once hate is replaced with hunger(I expect food shortages) then one will see some ‘real’ change.


20 posted on 03/30/2009 11:15:48 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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