It is Not the Time for Caution

8 Commentaries for Week Ending 3/13/2009 #1

You would think that with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Democrats at least would get that we need to make big, transformative changes as soon as possible.

And most of them do. Certainly President Barack Obama's economic recovery bill and budget -- as well as calls for fundamental reform of health care, education and energy policy -- show that he does. Certainly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does: On Tuesday, she said in a meeting I attended that the House would pass Obama's major reform legislation in 2009. Most Democrats in the House and Senate understand that the moment for big change has arrived.

Not so much for a small minority of Democrats in the Senate.

Mike Lux at Huffington Post

One of the problems with membership in a "Big Tent" party is that a small group of disaffected Senators or Congressmen can railroad the ambitious plans of the more liberal wing of the party. I think in the long term that this check on liberal power works out OK. However, these are not normal times. We are in the midst of a crisis that continues to worsen. We are at moment to learn. Americans are primed to learn.

I think that every Senator in Evan Bayh's group needs to be given a copy of Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment. FDR succeeded because he acted. He wasn't timid. He knew that the failure to act would worsen the crisis and would prevent help from reaching those who need it. The amount of suffering in our country is unfortunately high in the best of times. With a rising unemployment rate over 8%, the level of suffering will soon reach dramatic levels. It is our moral imperative that we do everything we can.

This isn't just realizing long held liberal ideas; it just so happens that these ideas (such as economic stimulus, investment in green energy, and national health care insurance) are the right ideas to alleviate suffering and to allow the country to begin the long process of climbing out of the economic mess born out of conservative ideology. If these Senators want to be on the right side of history, they will not stand in the way of the Obama agenda. They will be called out. They will face opponents in their next primary. If they still choose to play the role of obstructionist, I would imagine that their electoral future will be one of peril in the not so distant future.