>>Scott Brown was elected as an independent, and he is following that path of doing what he believes best for our nation and his voters back home in Massachusetts.<<
I’m toying with an idea. Even if Republicans take back Congress in 2010, we’ll be faced with the Senate filibuster and Obama’s veto pen, i.e., with at least two more years of gridlock (not a bad thing, given the present alternatives.)
Right now, middle of the road Democrats in Congress are scared stiff of their current path, knowing that many of them are likely to be voted out of office in November. Why? Because Pelosi/Reid/Obama are way too far left and refuse to govern to the center.
So, what would happen if the Dems in Congress dumped their current leadership in favor of leaders more in the “Blue Dog” vein? If they did that, Republican leadership would almost certainly sit down with them and start hammering out some commonsense solutions to the health care mess we now have. The result might be a series of bills that actually begin to attack the problem.
But for the Dems, the result would be that, while they are likely to lose some seats, they would probably retain many that they are now in serious jeopardy. For the Republicans, their ideas make it into the hopper and actually come out the other end in a palatable form. And for the rest of us, something finally gets done that isn’t in the far left Pelosi/Reid mold.
As for Obama, I have every confidence that he will sign absolutely anything he’s presented, as long as he can take credit for it. Cynical, but I think accurate.
What I really like about this is that, besides the fact that it would probably work as I’ve described (much as welfare reform occurred under Clinton once a middle ground was found after the 94 election) it clearly puts the onus on the current Democrats in Congress to make the first move and repudiate their current leadership. Maybe once they realize that 3/4 of the voters in the country would be standing and cheering them as they did so, a majority of them will actually try it.
Anyone got thoughts on this? Serious ones, not just calling me an idiot, etc., for coming up with something that might leave the Dems in control of Congress, something that might happen anyway, don’t forget.
I smell another Arlen Specter
I’m cautiously optimistic about your idea. At least, it gives me a little hope. There was a time that I would have said that would absolutely be the case, but it is really hard to call when you have these people in Congress.