Fred Barnes makes a point:
Moderate Democrats aren’t a tough breed, but they’ve begun to question many of Obama’s policies. They don’t strike fear in Pelosi’s heart. But if their ranks swell, they could cause trouble for her, Reid, and especially Obama.
And Barnes is right. On Tuesday, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) came out against the Employee Free Choice Act even though he had no problem voting for it in 2007. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) voted against the omnibus appropriations bill and voted for about half of the Republican amendments to the bill (a voting pattern he shared with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)). Budget chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) is warning Obama that he may not be willing to ram home his cap-and-trade energy policy using the the reconciliation process (a parliamentary way of passing legislation with only 50 votes). He also said that anyone who thinks he can easily pass Obama’s budget is smoking something. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) was only the most vocal Democrat responsible for spiking DNI Blair’s selection to head the National Intelligence Council over things he’s said that are critical of Israel. Finance chair Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is floating McCainesque health care solutions that run exactly counter to Obama’s campaign promises.
I don’t know if David Broder is right to say that President Obama’s honeymoon is over, but we’ve clearly reached a stage where Democrats are balking at carrying out his agenda. The bigger the Democratic majority grows, the more infighting we will see.
