Another way of putting this is that the Senate Democrats can filibuster as much as they want and they don’t have to have the remotest fear that anyone will ever hold them accountable for it. That, ironically, is a lesson that Mitch McConnell taught them while he was serving as the Senate Minority Leader.
I think it’s even better for the Democrats than it was for the Republicans. The Republicans were filibustering things that the president had proposed. Those things were mostly poll-tested and quite popular with the general public. But what the Democrats are opposing isn’t popular. No one gives a shit about the Keystone pipeline. No one wants the Homeland Security department shut down. No one is going to wants guns in every purse or more abortion restrictions. No one wants sanctions in Iran.
Of course, when I say “no one,” I mean no one whose vote is up for grabs. The Republican agenda is not broadly popular. It doesn’t divide the Democrats or appeal to moderates, so there’s just no cost to opposing it.
When McConnell obstructed popular stuff, people got mad that Congress doesn’t work and blamed the party that wants government to work. But that was because people wanted Congress to pass popular stuff, not because they wanted them to pass some Tea Party heat fever wish list of lunacy.
The president is just going to get popular stuff done, which is what people want.
Congress can rot until the Democrats have enough control again to actually legislate.
And, when they do, people will blame them for overreach and throw them out.
This is how it works now.
