Obama's Big Congressional Victory

That thunderous crash you just heard emanating from Washington, DC was Henry Waxman's toppling of John Dingell to become chair of the energy and commerce committee. West Coast beats Midwest Coast. Good versus evil. A rotten oak has been felled.

Whatever you want to call it, it's a big victory for Barack Obama and liberals, as important, if not more so, than his cabinet appointments. (Full disclosure: I should mention that my significant other works for H.W., but these are my own unfiltered thoughts.)

Dingell, as odious and bullying a legislator as there's ever been, was essentially nothing more than a shill for the auto industry, working overtime to suppress any attempts at controlling pollution or raising mileage limits. Look where that approach got Detroit. Waxman, who has been one of the most effective legislators on Capitol Hill, almost singlehandedly exposing Bush administration malfeasance in Iraq and a host of other government agencies (as Harold Meyerson cogently noted in a Washington Post op-ed yesterday calling upon Democrats to support Waxman for his new post), will move quickly and effectively with Nancy Pelosi, who clearly was fed up with Dingell, to implement Obama's agenda on health and the environment.

Score another one for Obama.

Comments

[Pharos]

I posted a link to
http://voteview.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/who-is-more-liberal-senator-obama-or-senator-clinton/

in a comment to the article "Hillary Clinton, Neocon Savior?" by Jacob Heilbrunn. It showed up briefly and then was removed. I posted it again several times and it never showed up. Censoring a link to university research? It was accepted as a comment in other articles on HP.

[bayside]

Dingell is a blue dog. These republican dem should be our next target to oust..Tell them to go back to their own party..

[Deparis]

Thanks Jacob, I just noted in my score book: Obama 1 - Reid 0.

I PLEDGE to support and contribute to Reid's challenger during the 2010 democratic primaries!

[Javani]

"was essentially nothing more than a shill for the auto industry,"

And Waxman will not be the same for Wall Street finance with cap and trade?

And why are the talking points people keep feeding journalists the suggestion that this factional fight on the energy committee has something to do with health care? I'll suggest why. Because the grass roots wants to hear about health care CHANGE, not about Washington machinations and Obama's clear and consistent statements and gestures all leading to what Obama said, said, said will be the start of his legislative agenda--carbon cap and trade.

Here are Obama's words to the Governator's peeps--

"That will start with a federal cap and trade system....Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all," Obama said. "Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response."

You ever hear him talk like that about instituting bank reforms? Iraq? Health Care? Real environment issues? I haven't.

Mandatory CCX trading is coming.

[Walden2Now]

Good riddance to Inhofe's Congressional alter ego!