Let's just say I don't think it's a coincidence that they gutted the voting rights act when they did. Any earlier, and the dems could have, and would have, entered legislation to fix it and seen it signed by an African American president.
But all this goes back to the point that people keep screaming 'the dems had a supermajority!' without taking into account that they really only had it for a very small window of time, much of which was spent on negotiating a health care bill which voters punished them at the polls for implementing and, no, it wasn't because it 'didn't go far enough'. It was because of a wave election lead by resentment and racism and ginned up fears that Obama was giving everything away to 'them'.
Last edited by Tendrin; 03-06-2020 at 08:18 PM.
Not to mention stimulus packages, creating the pro-consumer agency Warren wanted, etc.
Democrats got a lot done with that super majority. They lost it even before the health care bill was made law, which is why it had to be passed as a fiscal measure. Before, they were courting Lieberman, which resulted in the removal of the public option and more cost controls, in order to bring cloture. But when it became clear that Kennedy’s seat had been filled by a Republican, who only served until the end of that term, they had to pass it with a simple majority. So, yeah, they had it for 11 months. But we were supposed to pass everything that Democrats ever wanted in that eleven month period, including a new VRA, despite the fact the original was working well and was in effect for decades, getting reauthorized on a bipartisan basis until the Supreme Court gutted it and Republicans could use them as political cover and not have to bring up a new VRA because it would allow them to suppress votes.
With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Very poor, but it's better than being abolished. Being the president isn't like being a genie, they have power but they're not kings. In fact, this can hurt him like when Obama defended Trayvon Martin. Doing the right thing is great, but if all it's getting is nothing what's the point of them being there? He's the president, not an actor giving a speech at the Oscars.
He's not going to fix anything unless he's getting elected, then he can be in position to move on that and push that window harder to shut down ICE. How's Sanders going to get any of his agenda passes if he isn't elected? Don't weaponise what's right against getting progress done.
Last edited by Steel Inquisitor; 03-06-2020 at 08:42 PM.
SXSW has been cancelled because of the growing threat of coronavirus. Meanwhile, memos were sent out from the NBA to its teams saying they should prepare for the possibility of playing games in empty arenas.
Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!
On healthcare specifically it is unfair to say Obama didn't get it done with a supermajority because there were circumstances that can be traced to everything that happened with it (Lieberman and the race for Ted Kennedy's seat). That said there was alot they could have gotten done while they had it that they didn't even have on the agenda