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Edited on Tue Apr-12-11 03:06 PM by Liberal_Stalwart71
I find that many DUers simply do not know how our democratic institutions work. There are three separate and distinct branches of government, not one.
Budget-related bills always--ALWAYS--begin in the U.S. House of Representatives. If the House is now controlled by Republicans/Teabaggers who refuse to compromise on ANYTHING, then what are the Democrats, who are now fewer in number to do?
If the Senate's business can be stopped by ONE SENATOR through Holds/Filibusters, then how is that the Executive Branch's fault?
I love the way people compare President Johnson's Congress to Obama's, disregarding the historical context of that time. Why can't Obama be more like President Johnson? The answer is simple: the Democrats of LBJ's time who didn't become Republicans were much more liberal; the Republicans, many of them coastal were more liberal/progressive. It is easier when you have Democrats/Republicans who can create winning coalitions on any given number of issues.
The Republicans of Bill Clinton's time were much more moderate than they are today.
What we have now is a much of batshit crazy wingnuts, nothing like FDR's, JFK's, LBJ's, or Bill Clinton's time.
And yet, DU believes that the president somehow has control over these conditions. All he has really are two things: (1) the Bully Pulpit and (2) the Veto pen.
Well, as far as the Bully Pulpit, I think the president's messaging team has done an abysmal job getting a clear messag out to the people. I blame him 100% for that.
As for the veto pen, legislation has to pass both houses of the legislature. Over 400 pieces of legislation passed the House under Nancy Pelosi's leadership. Most of that legislation was stalled in the Senate due to Republican Holds/Filibusters.
Further, the line-item veto power was overturned by the SCOTUS back in 1996. Therefore, if a bill comes to Obama's desk and it has these line items in it, say stripped D.C. of Planned Parenthood funding, Obama cannot effectively strike that item out.
I think your observation is correct.
Too many DUers are directing anger at the Democrats/Obama and NOT at the Republicans/Teabaggers, and that's exactly what the wingnuts want. They want to demoralize the Democratic base such that we don't vote.
When we don't vote, they win. It's really that simple. That's how we got the Republicans/Teabaggers in the House. And yet, people are upset that Obama is forced to compromise? Sure, he is. We gave him MORE crazy-ass wingnuts. What do we expect??
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