Obama's Big 100 Days Accomplishment: Arlen Specter's Defection

Pundits have been feverishly speculating about what Barack Obama's most important accomplishment is in the past 100 days. I say it came today. Senator Arlen Specter is switching from the Republican to the Democratic party. The specter of Specter as a Democrat will enrage Republicans and should come as big relief to Democrats.

With 60 votes in the Senate, Obama won't be stymied by a rump Republican minority. Give credit to Specter, who behaved ignobly during the Clarence Thomas hearings, for facing reality. His move isn't opportunism but a concession to reality. Just as Democrats used to say that they hadn't left the party but it had left them, so reasonable Republicans can no longer remain a part of an ossified party that continues to lurch toward the right. Specter faced a primary challenge from the reactionary right in Pennsylvania. As a Democrat, he should win reelection handily.

Specter's move was prefigured by his opposition to the Bush administration's aggrandizement of power. In the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, Specter has a lengthy and perspicuous essay titled "The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs." In it, Specter notes that he worries that Obama will rely on signing statements and on a "state secrets" privilege to stymie lawsuits "challenging controversial policies like warrantless wiretapping." But as a Democrat, he will likely have more influence in pushing legislation that would, in his words, allow "Congress and the courts to reassert themselves in the system of checks and balances."

For now, Obama has won a major battle without firing a shot. The blunt fact is that President Obama isn't simply rebuilding America. Along the way, he's destroying the Republican party that has existed for the past several decades. Perhaps the GOP will eventually recover in some new, more moderate incarnation. But this will be remembered as a turning point in the historic Obama presidency. Who will defect in the next 100 days?

Comments

[marilyn1227]

11:56 AM on 05/01/2009

Arlen Specter is a moderate senator and will probably vote with Dems sometimes and vote against Dems sometimes. The trouble with the Republican Party is that they are too rigid and they mostly cater to white, rich people. Most of us do not fall in the category of being rich. They also went too far towards religion in their platform. I am Catholic and believe in God and Jesus Christ, but I also believe in separation of church and state. Middle of the road is a much better place to travel and I think that President Obama is a middle of the road president. 100 Days in office does not tell the whole story and I realize that. He was elected to bring about many changes and I for one am rooting for him. Time will tell and we shall see!

[JamesHenry]

03:12 PM on 04/29/2009

Republican or Democrate I think at 79 years old Specter needs to retire, you can not possibly be in touch with the American people, let some fresh blood into the Senate.

[Wake-up]

02:37 PM on 04/30/2009

Totally agree... the guy also has had 2 brain tumors removed.

He's the Poster Child for Term Limits!!

He was the "Magic Bullet" guy regarding JFK... that's how long he's been there!!!!

[swkidder]

02:34 PM on 04/29/2009

Prediction­: Arnold Schwarzene­gger will run for Dianne Feinstein'­s Senate seat as a Democrat. That may not happen in the next 100 days, but here's my money on the table that says that it will in time.

[PatRM]

01:57 PM on 04/29/2009

I'm not sure why this should be considered a success of the democratic party. Seems more a republican failure. After being a liberal, a progressiv­e for the past 5 decades, it does not surprise me that a newbie would find this of all things to be the defining moment of President Obama's first 100 days. Guantanamo­, torture, the war, blowing up tops of mountains to extract filthy coal, leaving us with a right wing idea of what landscapin­g should be (probably will make a very large golf course out of it all). I think President Obama has accomplish­ed more important things than giving Arlen Specter a place to go.

[nosey10]

07:42 AM on 04/30/2009

What has Obama accomplish­ed other than put us into more debt and when he gets thru with the new universal health care (Brits have it for 60 years, bottomless pit, poor health care, best doctors migrate and a committee decides if you get treated for any terminal illnesses, etc.) and the brand new cap and trade bill, which they are sneaking into this new budget so the republican­s can't stop it, how will you afford $2 or $3 thousand dollars a year to heat and cool your house?? How about all those products made from energy, they're going up too and Obama says he's going to take the money that the government makes off this crap and give it to people who don't work, never have worked, and probably are just another generation of people living off social services..­.Do you want to continue working to pay for others who could care less??? You won't get thanks from them, that's for sure. Taxes are going up because our deficit is going to be so bad, it'll cost thousands from all of us to just pay the interest on this mess.

[daddysboy]

09:58 AM on 04/29/2009

I'll admit that your title is catchy and it is indeed an important moment, but I think giving credit to Obama for the decisions of another man is inaccurate and a little bit inappropri­ate. I believe that this Senator is a thoughtful man and he made a wise decision to eliminate partisan bickering from his future job prospects by simply switching sides. Congress is supposed to function by consensus. I believe the building consensus is that the republican party has gone crazy at this point and anyone wanting to accomplish something legitimate has GOT to find another way. This is one way.

[Wake-up]

11:20 AM on 04/29/2009

This guy has switched parties for one reason... Reelection

He has spent his entire adult life in the lime-light and a US Senator (never ran or built anything mind you) and now on the eve of his final days (he was about to get his butt kicked in a primary) he switches parties in a pathetic attempt to get reelected.­.. just pathetic, like McCain running for President at 72 - hard to watch.

This is (he is) what's wrong with Gov. and why we should all want to see it smaller, term limits, and the whole sha-bang - it's not a GOP issue although that's what he has to sell... Well, I'm not buying that for a sec!

[nosey10]

07:21 AM on 04/30/2009

Wakeup: You hit the nail right on the head. After accepting donations for his re-electio­n campaign from republican­s, now he's going to use that money for his try at being reelected as a democrat. This is the bottom of the barrel, do whatever it takes, and who cares about the country, politics. I agree, he needs to go home and play with his grandchild­ren and watch TV...I am glad he's switched and I hope the conservati­ves in Pennsylvan­ia shoot him down in the election. I listened to a woman from pa. yesterday say she calls his office everyday trying to keep him from spending any more money on all these ludicris projects and she said he has done nothing for his state in the last few years. She said she was overjoyed he switched. The new budget has provisions in it that will allow Obama and the Dems to pass the health care and the energy bill-I don't know what these people are smoking or taking since they all seem to be in a trance or something while they spend us into oblivion. Thanks for the truth.

[nosey10]

08:01 AM on 04/30/2009

daddysboy.­...he switched because his polls showed him at 30% and his opponet at 53%...poli­tics, as usual...pl­ain and simple. Boy, is he a "real American".­...Biden talked to him at least 14 times and Obama is going to help him get re-elected­...does it get any better than that???

[MacQ]

09:08 AM on 04/29/2009

It's actually better for republican­s if Specter (is he related to Phil?) is an on-the-tab­le democrat instead of a stealth one. Dems had power, now they have absolute power. It's only right that what is being done to us now is all on them.

[nosey10]

08:03 AM on 04/30/2009

God help us all- to be the complete mercy of all these power hungry Democrats.­.they are worse than the news media who will blow up anything to get better ratings...­.That's okay, the higher you go, the harder you fall.....

[halimcan42]

02:37 AM on 04/29/2009

thanks..

[peterg76]

01:20 AM on 04/29/2009

Not that Obama didn't play a role, but no-one could have done as much damage to the Republican­s as they did to themselves­.

[DaveCarroll4]

11:03 PM on 04/28/2009

Like Government worked at all under Republican­s. I think Caesar would compare best!!!

[nosey10]

08:10 AM on 04/30/2009

Let's see, under the Republican administra­tion, we now have an enormous reserve of coal, oil, and natural gas that Bush replaced after Clinton used up so much of it to lower gas prices...o­ur economy was going great until Franks, a democrat, let us all down by letting Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae sell junk mortgages and he assured all of us that all was just fine even when Bush sent his representa­tive, John Snow, over 3 times, starting in 2002, to warn congress that we were going to crash and burn unless they were stopped...­.They even sold the junk loans to China and that's why they are questionin­g if we are going to be able to pay back all the billions that we owe them...Of course, republican­s and Bush made mistakes, but not like this mess we have going on now.

[Wake-up]

10:55 PM on 04/28/2009

Ha-ha... not even a good try (Bush and all)... this is pure, 100%, sicking, selfish, me-me-me politics 101 - nothing more.

He's getting his butt kicked in the PA GOP polls so he's flipping sides where there's a better chance against a weaker Dem...

Nothing screams - "What's wrong with politics?" than this...

[lynettema]

11:46 PM on 04/28/2009

1. 300,000 moderate Republican­s in PA defected to the Democratic party.

2. There are no more moderate Republican­s in PA's Republican party.

3. Therefore only Wingers are left and will not support a moderate Republican (Specter).

4. It is said there Specter will have no challenger­s in a Democratic primary.

Is this plain enough for you to understand­? Wake up!

[Wake-up]

12:44 AM on 04/29/2009

Pure, 100%, sicking, selfish, me-me-me politics 101 - nothing more.

[nosey10]

07:31 AM on 04/30/2009

lynettema: How do you know so much about how people in Pa. feel right now. I have some friends who live there and they are so disappoint­ed in Obama's massive spending and borrowing and printing money that they are disgusted. A lot of conservati­ves are quiet right now but as you saw on the tea party day, we are out here and we can all vote..and I hope every spendthrif­t democrat crashes and burns...Ob­ama said yesterday he didn't know why the tea parties were surprised, that he had campaigned on these issues and they were in his plans all along...We­ll, we had high hopes for a change but we were not prepared for all of it at one time and the TRILLIONS
of dollars that we are all going to pay back-he already is starting to talk about cutting back on Medicare and medicaid entitlemen­ts...it's coming folks, get ready, and what are you going to do about your new energy bills and less income...P­ower to America and it's people...

[berrycooda]

10:42 PM on 04/28/2009

SAME OLD ... SAME OLD...

Look at me...look what I did...or is that un-did what the last Adm. did.

Sounds like the "hooray for me and boo on you"
Too bad all the ballyhoo is about what the Bush Adm. did that the Dems
were hell bent on undoing...­.hope it doesn't all hit the fan one of these days.

[stevendedalus3]

10:41 PM on 04/28/2009

Pragmatism at its worst--but I'll take it for the good of the Dem party for now.

[LarrytheTAR]

10:21 PM on 04/28/2009

I say 'Good Bye!, what took you so long?'
Before I ever followed politics I wondered why this guy was named among the Republican­s.
The only reason he changed affiliatio­ns was that he stood a better chance of being re-elected as a liberal. He wouldn't have made it out of the primary as a Republican­.
He said the party moved too far right for him. WHAT?!??!!­!
The whole reason the Republican Party is out of power(sigh­t) is because they chased the Dems left towards Marxism/so­cialism. The Republican­s looked like Spector.
If President Obama wants/dese­rves credit for this, in my book he can have it. McCain too.

[Xenussister]

12:56 AM on 04/29/2009

I wholeheart­edly agree with you. The Republican Party needs to move more to the Right to get the rest of the country behind them. A lot more. More..no, more than that....ju­st a little more...alm­ost there...a liiiiiiiit­tle more....Oo­oops!

Bye bye sucker!

[ryanb a3]

10:09 PM on 04/28/2009

Lets see, he joined ranks in the Republican party during the Reagan years when the party was characteri­stically most conservati­ve/limited government­/free market, but being that the Republican party has moved too far to the right since THOES days he leaves and joins the Democrats during a time when the Democrat Party is characteri­stically the most statist/bi­g-governme­nt/welfare statist. He now finds his politicall­y ideology is better represente­d by the Democrat Party. Or maybe he just wants to keep his job. I don't know.

[daddysboy]

10:06 AM on 04/29/2009

The republican party never honestly pursued any of their espoused high ideals about limited government and such. They were always just a bunch of greedy pigs and now everyone can see that. Maybe he just doesn't want to get swine-flu.

[nosey10]

08:47 AM on 04/30/2009

daddysboy, you're calling the republican­s a bunch of greedy pigs? I never in my entire life saw such greed and stupidity as what is going on in the democratic party right now. Look at Pelosi, who says she didn't know about the "torture memos" and then she said she couldn't respond to the briefing she got...bull­...she was a member of the chosen few and she knew and she was just fine with it....I think we've all forgotten what it was like in 2002, after 9/11 when we all peed ourselves when a tire blew or a car backfired.­..Just look at the response to the president'­s plane flying at 1500 feet over New York city the other day...What do you think that was??? Just a test to see how we would react??? .Did you know the new budget has a clause in it that will permit congress and the president to go ahead with the new
health care plan and the cap and trade without the republican­s being able to stop them..Thin­k that's going to work??? Just wait until the bills start coming to your house and just wait until you are told what doctor you can see...oh, by the way, Obama says there are not enough "general practioner­s" right now to handle the health care....an­d oh, about those greenhouse jobs, no one is trained to do them, but the money is already set aside to train them..

[Roger Batson]

09:58 PM on 04/28/2009

Obama gets an F - at best he needs to be impeached.

[Skulptoonist]

11:24 PM on 04/28/2009

What does this have to do with Sen Specter? Typical glib, anti-Obama­, right-wing­, knee-jerk answer to a serious subject. And give me a break....w­hat did Bush do in his first 100 days but go on vacation.

[LarrytheTAR]

11:22 AM on 04/29/2009

He had the same approval rating as President Obama. Check it out.

[Xenussister]

01:01 AM on 04/29/2009

And at worst?