Interesting Comment

Comment to a Guardian article:

The reason why the left falls down in times of crises is that it fails to define how it wants to use authority, it almost you would think has problem with authority itself – whereas the right seems to make itself out as more potent, vibrant, energetic and charged up – and it will and has used the state for its means, however repugnant it has been in doing this.

On the left – the left struggles to define how it will use power and authority – the right has no bother in doing this.

I think there’s some truth in this. When the Right knows what it wants, it is perfectly happy to use the power of government, head-stopping mobs, and even undermine democracy (i.e., voter suppression) to get what it wants. Too many on the Left seem psychologically unwilling to accept even legitimate power. They want somebody to fix things, but they don’t always seem to know exactly how that’s going to happen.

How Obstructionism Works

Greg Sargent and Steve Benen explain how the GOP hopes to gain from obstruction of legislation that the public supports.

Sargent:

Voters either don’t understand, or they don’t care, that the GOP has employed an unprecedented level of filibustering in order to block all of Obama’s policies, even ones that have majority public support from Dems, independents and Republicans alike.

Their reaction, in a nutshell, seems to be: The Obama-led government isn’t acting on the economy? Obama can’t get his policies passed? Well, he must be weak.

Indeed, if the GOP’s strategy is to deliberately create government dysfunction out of a belief that the public will blame Obama for it and lose faith on government in general, turning to GOP ideology instead, it very well may be working. The new AP poll finds that only 41 percent say government can do much to create jobs, a finding that’s borne out in other polls.

Benen:

The public likes to think of the President of the United States, no matter who’s in office, as having vast powers. He or she is “leader of the free world.” He or she holds the most powerful office on the planet. If the president — any president — wants a jobs bill, it must be within his or her power to simply get one to the Oval Office to be signed into law.

And when the political system breaks down, and congressional Republicans kill ideas that are worthwhile and popular, there’s an assumption that the president is somehow to blame, even if that doesn’t make any sense at all.

Polls show the public favors the Democratic Party’s policy ideas over those of Republicans. But since Democrats can’t get their policies passed over Republican obstruction, voters seem inclined to punish the Dems by voting for Republicans.

And, unfortunately, most Americans aren’t hearing the whole story of the obstruction. Those who only read headlines or listen to 30 minutes or less of broadcast news every day have no idea what’s really going on.

Judging by a lot of leftie commentary in the blogosphere, even people who seem to care about politics and seem to pay some attention to issues come to irrational conclusions about why the President isn’t accomplishing what they want. So how would someone who doesn’t pay much attention to politics — or worse, who listens to Fox News or Rush Limbaugh — have a clue?

The Dems plan to continue to push for jobs. Senate Dems are going to try to get a vote on the infrastructure portion of the nixed Jobs bill, to force Republicans to vote no on it again. But Steve Benen says,

As it turns out, reporters seem annoyed that Senate Democrats continue to fight for jobs, pressing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on why he’d bother with an infrastructure bill that Republicans disapprove of.

Maybe because it shouldn’t be up to the Senate minority to veto an idea before a debate? Maybe because this is a bill Republicans should gladly endorse? Maybe because there’s value in getting GOP lawmakers on record on an important and popular bill?

All told, the U.S. Department of Transportation projects that this $50 billion proposal would create roughly 800,000 jobs. They’re jobs, apparently, Republicans don’t think the nation needs.

Greg Sargent:

In a particularly interesting moment, reporters repeatedly pressed Reid to explain why he was going to force Republicans to vote this way, given that they have already said they’ll never support raising taxes. (It would be nice to see these reporters question Republicans as aggressively on why they won’t back policies that even GOP voters like, but that’s probably expecting too much.) But Reid refused to give ground, again and again pointing out that the public is on the side of Dems, and against Republicans, on this issue.

“The Republicans in the Senate are the only group of people in America that feel this way,” Reid said, in a reference to their opposition to the millionaire surtax. “Around the country, Democrats, independents, and Republicans support what we’re trying to do.” As it happens, large majorities also support increased infrastructure spending — including of GOP voters.

I feel like occupying the Washington press corps right now.