The only reason the Senate rules used to work is because Senators worked with each other in good faith and with restraint.
Now that the GOP senators have begun behaving worse than kindergartners the senate is broken. The rules need to be revamped.
He’s doing this on behalf of corporations. This will only get worse thanks to the Supreme Court CU v FEC ruling. Report: Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over AL Earmarks |
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary “blanket hold” on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, CongressDaily (sub. req.) reports. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold. |
Shelby has been tight-lipped about the holds, offering only an unnamed spokesperson to reporters today to explain them. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke the news of the blanket hold this afternoon. Reid aides told CongressDaily the hold extends to “all executive nominations on the Senate calendar.” |
According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. CongressDaily laid out the programs Shelby wants to move forward or else: Read more at tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com |
Sunday Talk - Let Obama Be Bartlet |
 For the past few months, progressives have been lamenting the fact that the Barack Obama they saw on the campaign trail was nowhere to be found in the White House.
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The contrast is really amazing when you compare this to Bush’s Q&A with members of the Democratic Hou… oh wait, Bush never did anything remotely like this because he a puppet, not a leader… | President Obama’s full Q&A at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore |
| Obama: I will continue to fight. |
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Obama, With Defiant Tone, Vows to Push Agenda
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ELYRIA, Ohio — President Obama, striking a no-retreat, no-surrender posture in the wake of his party’s humiliating defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race this week, vowed Friday to press on with his expansive domestic agenda — including a health care overhaul and tough new restrictions on banks — even if it meant he had to “take my lumps” from political critics. |
| Obama sounded unusually defiant, even fiery, at a town hall-style question and answer session |
The president used the word “fight,” or some version of it, more than 20 times. |
“So long as I have some breath in me, so long as I have the privilege of serving as your president, I will not stop fighting for you,” Mr. Obama said. “I will take my lumps. But I won’t stop fighting to bring back jobs here.” Read more at www.nytimes.com |
I’m not fond of the delay, but I think waiting for the punditocracy to become distracted by another balloon boy or marital affair would probably benefit everyone. The noise coming from the punditocracy since Tuesday Night has been really polluting to the HCR debate. | Cooling Off Period: Hands-Off Obama Leaves Health Care To Hill |
President Obama, hammered for taking a hands-off approach on health care to begin with, has all but disappeared from the discussions as Congressional leaders attempt to figure out a way to finalize a health care plan now that they have just 59 Senate seats. |
Obama’s health care message has been to say he hopes Congress tries to “move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on,” a signal many took as backing away to let leaders do what they think is most politically viable. |
A White House aide insisted Obama is “engaged” on health care and that “active” discussions are happening in an around the Oval Office. |
One thing you gotta give Cheney credit for, he knows that anyone who still thinks of him as a viable source of anything doesn’t give a rat’s ass about facts. President Obama “doesn’t … want to admit we’re at war.” |
Dick Cheney on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 in a statement to Politico. |
Cheney says Obama won’t admit the U.S. at war against terrorists |
But a review of Obama’s statements of the past year makes it clear he has often said the United States is at war against terrorist organizations. |
The fifth paragraph of his inaugural address: “Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.” |
In a February 2009 CNN interview: “I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations.” |
| In his December 2009 speech at West Point on his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan: He repeatedly called it a war |
| In his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize: He said that “we are at war” |
| Cheney has offered lots of criticism of Obama in the past year |
The enjoyablity of having a responsible grown-up for a President probably won’t wear off for many, many years. Obama: The Buck Stops With Me on AIG |
Before heading to California for some “town hall” meetings, President Obama addressed the AIG mess: |
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Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over Alabama Earmarks #p2 #gop
