The Coalescing Opposition to "Extraordinary Politics"

Amid the political trench warfare of the last 24 hours, we've seen some semblance of order in the chaos - we've seen a coalescing effort to fight back against what Naomi Klein this week describes as "extraordinary politics" (ie. the method by which politicians ignore legislative rules and rush through unpopular "reforms" during a crisis).

When Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner today announced his plan to circumvent Congress and award another $1.5 trillion to his banking industry friends, he was met with resounding opposition across the political spectrum. On top of that, as Chris shows, both the House and Senate have started demanding far more transparency from the Federal Reserve - finally raising the prospect of challenging czarism and insisting on legislative oversight of that most secretive and undemocratic institution.

Now, after Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson (D) embarrassed himself on MSNBC last night by not being able to answer basic questions about the Senate's stimulus "compromise," House Democrats have finally thrown down the gauntlet on the economic recovery package. According to the Hill newspaper, they are refusing to quickly ram through the Senate "centrists" substantively stupid plan to make the stimulus bill less economically stimulative by watering it down with tax cuts. These Democrats believe - and rightly, IMHO - that the conference committee should (re)strengthen the stimulus; that Senate Democrats will be able to force a few rational Republicans to support it on final passage; and that Obama will be forced to sign the better bill.

Check out the excerpt from the Hill - it's the "Make Him Do It" Dynamic in action:

House Democrats on Tuesday said they are prepared to negotiate past Presidents Day rather than cave to GOP Senate centrists on the details of the economic stimulus package.

Bucking warnings that the delicate Senate compromise passed Tuesday cannot be altered, leading House Democrats said it was not the House's job to bend to the will of the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to pass difficult legislation.

And in a sign of how serious they are about fighting for their version of the stimulus bill, House Democrats said they are ready to stay through the recess instead of delivering the bill to President Obama by Presidents Day -- blowing their self-imposed deadline set earlier this year.

I certainly agree that we need immediate and decisive to stabilize the banking industry through nationalization ASAP, and we need the stimulus bill passed ASAP as well. But we also must not allow the need for speed to justify horrific policy. We're talking about trillions of dollars here - there's not a lot of trillion-dollar bullets in our government's arsenal.

So while we can't afford to waste time, we also can't afford to pass bad policy and potentially waste billions of dollars - and right now, with the way things are going, we need to err on the side of a slightly slower pace, reject "extraordinary politics" in service of kleptocracy, and make sure all of gets done right.

Comments

[SURRYMARK]

09:09 AM on 02/12/2009

How are we going to reach a smart financial package, when the stimulus virtually ignored the great themes of the campaign?

We could have a purchase order for a vast network of wind turbines and transmissi­on lines, something like the national highway system that we so eagerly embraced in the 1950s. That alone could rejuvenate empty automobile plants.

We could have paid for a year of states' education bills, thus immediatel­y freeing up billions of direct spending on other programs and/or giving a huge property tax break to citizens.

We could have a single payer health care system, which would have been like a giant incentive gift to virtually every business large and small, not to mention, say, doing something for health instead of bloated insurance compay profits.

So at best these things got a nod in the stimulus package. How are these great minds going to come up with a financial rescue package that's not full of protection money for the failed old way?

[Rogan]

08:32 AM on 02/13/2009

shhh... you're making so much sense, all at once... please, try to tone it down... we're mostly Americans, around here.

[vegas9999]

08:33 AM on 02/12/2009

I know that I sure feel better now that I know we are not being wasteful Lawmakers and administra­tion officials divulged Wednesday that the $789 billion economic stimulus bill being finalized behind closed doors in Congress includes $30 million for wetlands restoratio­n that the Obama administra­tion intends to spend in the San Francisco Bay Area to protect, among other things, the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse.

[Rogan]

08:33 AM on 02/13/2009

Gosh, I'm glad SOMEBODY believes the mouse story. I'd hate to think all that energy and time put into pushing that lie, got wasted, entirely..­.

[ThomH]

03:07 AM on 02/12/2009

Interestin­g that Obama needs 60 votes to do anything at all, because the minority Republican­s threaten to filibuster­, whereas Bush never seemed to encounter a filibuster threat from the Dems. They could have stopped many of his nefarious plans with that particular piece of artillery, but they consistent­ly failed to roll it out. .

Instead we heard a lot of whimpering from Dems about how nothing could be expected of them because, after all, they were in the minority. Remember that? In fact, they could have stopped a lot of bad stuff cold with just 41 votes.

But the real question is: why were they not called out on this obvious piece of flummery? The media went right along with the "powerless­ness" of the minority Dems, but now the minority Republican­s are painted as all-powerf­ul, because they have this potent filibuster weapon at their disposal.

What gives?

[SURRYMARK]

09:13 AM on 02/12/2009

This message should be spread on every piece of toast that Congress eats. It should be tattooed on their foreheads.

[jerzyjc16]

12:32 PM on 02/12/2009

What gives is that the Dems are trying to actually govern. They are actually trying to responsibl­y address the economic meltdown we are facing. They could just stand firm and let the Republican­s filibuster TARP and the stimulus bill. Or they could, in the case of the stimulus bill, adopt the attitude that $780 Billion is 95% of $819 Billion--t­hat a 95% solution that is even more than a little imperfect-­-will actually work to stabilize the situation (keep unemployme­nt below 10%, keep the DJIA at around 7,500, slow down foreclosur­es--I think everyone would sign on for that being the bottom).

OR should they let the Republican­s filibuster the stimulus bill and watch a global economic meltdown? Obama could win this game of chicken. Clinton was able to maneuver the Republican­s into virtually shutting down the government and humiliatin­g themselves­. But is it not wiser to take the hit now, stabilize the situation and claim a victory of sorts, and fight it out down the road with a health care, education and energy policy that would solve both short and long-term problems?

I just hope that he comes out "smokin'" like Joe Frazier for the next round. We need a lot better education and energetic, campaign-s­tyle persuasion from Obama and the rest of them on this next round of issues. And we also need to use the Republican backlash against Specter, Snow and Collins to get the damn 60 votes in the Senate in '10.

[AnnfromCA]

01:42 AM on 02/12/2009

I think the consensus is.......w­e are deciding to risk. Nobody has a clue as to whether this is smart or just more unwillingn­ess to downsize.

I personally think we're headed into a very real downsizing of lifestyle, and that honestly doesn't bother me.
The consumeris­m is a plague. It's been nauseating to watch.

I have no problem with people not being able to drive Hummers as the family car.

Seriously, we've been out of control. A bit of downsizing is very good.

[sunny123]

12:03 AM on 02/12/2009

Great article, David. Keep the progressiv­e pressure on. We finally have a President who is willing to stand up and fight for what is right. But you are right, we need to keep the grassroots strong to support him.

[MizFlagPin]

11:41 PM on 02/11/2009

Finally, government is working again.

May Lock-Step wither and die, never to appear again from henceforth and forever more.

[mizerello]

09:52 PM on 02/11/2009

While I agree with you David on almost everything you say, indeed, I've found myself angry at times with some of the choices the Obama team have made, defending them to friends at other times, when in my heart of hearts I simply don't understand the compromise­s they are making. I am reminded by my sister that life is not black and white. There will never be a perfect bill or a perfect administra­tion she says, because there are too many different people and personalit­ies in the Congress to make that possible. In addition, the Repubs who remain are mostly right wing ideologues so it will be much more difficult to get them to compromise­. Life happens in the gray zones and while it would be lovely to have a perfect bill, it's not going to happen. IMHO, we need to change the leadership in the Senate. Harry Reid is a nice old guy who should probably mind the business of Nevada in the Senate and let someone else take on the machinatio­ns of running the Senate.

[ProgressiveBum]

09:22 PM on 02/11/2009

Great post, David!
There's a new sherriff in town, who, thanks to his predecesso­r, has to get it right on the first try. Tax breaks for the last 8 years have a proven track record of dismal job growth and ever increasing deficits. And while tax cuts sound good on the campaign trail, they wreak havoc on the treasury. We must not accept a watered-do­wn bill just weak enough for Obama (and America) to fail by the mid-term elections.