I’m going to bookmark this article so I can come back to it on an as needed basis. It goes into great detail about the challenges facing an Obama administration even with big majorities in both houses of Congress. If you want to know who Obama will have to deal with to get his health care or green economy bills passed, this is the article to read. It also looks into the history of one-party rule going back to Kennedy and contemplates lessons learned. It’s a very good piece of journalism and quite educational for those unfamiliar with either the history or The Hill.
One insight is the importance of communicating now with the important committee chairmen, so that they can get started working on the agenda for the first 100 days. Another insight is the importance of setting the right priorities in terms of scheduling, and in not putting too much work into the system. I think I’ll do a comparative piece soon that looks at the cultural differences between the Democrats congress that Clinton inherited and the one that Obama will (hopefully) inherit.
