Monday, December 13, 2004

Democrats Need to Rise Above It

If you think about strategy as revolution...then you must acknowledge that no monarchy has ever fomented its own revolution. In other words, senior management does not have a great propensity for change.
Attributed to C. K. Prahalad, management writer

The Misanthrope predicts that shortly after the inauguration of President Bush, the Republicans will invoke what the Senate calls the nuclear option to stop filibusters by Democrats, who don’t want to have a nominee railroaded into the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush prefer to govern the same way Vladimir Putin does. Therefore, we predict it will happen. All of the talk about it now is laying the groundwork, so people will be used to the idea by the time it’s invoked.

As explained in the Washington Post, the nuclear option is a seldom-used, complicated and highly controversial parliamentary maneuver. Under this procedure, it would take only a simple majority or 51 votes to uphold the ruling -- far easier for the 55-member GOP majority to get than the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster or the 67 votes needed to change the rules under normal procedures. It would then take only 51 votes to confirm a nominee, ensuring approval of most if not all of Bush's choices.

The Democrats need to rise above this and figure out how to expose the Republicans for the dirty tricks and secrecy they are using to advance their agenda without bipartisan input. Incoming Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), said, “I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up.” These kinds of comments do nothing to help the Democrats present themselves in a better light.

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