Tag Archives: filibuster

The President, His Critics And the Politics of Impatience

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What do these two men have in common? More than you might think. [Credit: Politico]

What do these two men have in com­mon? More than you might think. [Cred­it: Politico]

“But what I’m not going to do is just wait.  I think it’s fair to say that I’ve shown a lot of patience…But what we can’t do is just keep on wait­ing.”  Pres­i­dent Oba­ma, Novem­ber 5, 2014

The Con­sti­tu­tion offers no rem­e­dy for pres­i­den­tial impa­tience. Pres­i­dents, Mem­bers of Con­gress and judges are some­times con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly required to “just keep on wait­ing.”  And that is some­thing office­hold­ers of both polit­i­cal par­ties seem increas­ing­ly unwill­ing to do.  When it comes to cir­cum­vent­ing the rules to achieve the polit­i­cal objec­tives of the moment, the Pres­i­dent and some of his most stri­dent con­ser­v­a­tive foes are soulmates.

Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Is Congress Still Relevant?

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All 100 Senators gathered last year for this photo. They have done little since. Have they become irrelevant? [Credit: senate.gov]

All 100 Sen­a­tors gath­ered last year for this pho­to. Under Har­ry Rei­d’s lead­er­ship, they have done lit­tle since. Have they become irrel­e­vant? [Cred­it: senate.gov]

Here is all you need to know about the decline of the Unit­ed States Con­gress: a US Sen­a­tor recent­ly asked a fed­er­al judge to block the Oba­ma Admin­is­tra­tion from unlaw­ful­ly sub­si­diz­ing his own health insur­ance coverage.

The law­suit illus­trates how Con­gress has become a sub­servient branch of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment.  Sub­ject to the whim of the Exec­u­tive Branch, one of its Mem­bers must now appeal to the Judi­cial Branch for relief.  Actu­al­ly leg­is­lat­ing seems out of the ques­tion. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Harry Reid and Government Power Creep

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Why is this man so sad? [Credit: themediahaven.com]

Why is this man so sad? The Sen­ate’s most pow­er­ful man yearns for more pow­er.  [Cred­it: themediahaven.com]

Nobody does sad­ness like Har­ry Reid (D‑NV). His deflat­ed body slumped over the podi­um atop his Sen­ate desk, head shak­ing slow­ly, his faint raspy voice a mix­ture of res­ig­na­tion and exas­per­a­tion, Reid spends much of his time as the Senate’s most pow­er­ful fig­ure bemoan­ing his lack of pow­er. Con­tin­ue read­ing →