4. This resistance sparked the Tea Party protests which started in summer 2009 — in contrast to the tools telling me it only became a thing *after* the 2010 election — which further deepened the pushback on Dems
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I think you are wrong, Kevin. I think protests started in April 2009. There was a protest on the Mall. I remember being surprised at the time that they could get something organized so fast. And, Rick Santelli's rant was in February, 2009. (Just saw it again on YouTube. Looked awfully staged.)
And on top of all that, they only had that extremely narrow window supermajority in the senate. In the House they only hit 59%, 5 or 6 votes short of fillibuster proof.
In a sane world that would be a clear mandate, but not quite enough without a few R's agreeing.
Twitter has character limits that don't really have space for nuance, I was keeping the comparisons simple.
You can pass bills and make laws at 50%, but to get anything permanent and hard to repeal (like abortion rights) you need 2/3 and Obama was just short of that.
The House doesn't have a fillibuster but they did have enough nay votes. Amounts to the same thing.
So when anyone asks "Why didn't Obama..." as the OP did, that's generally the reason, they were a few votes short of doing anything truly sweeping and permanent without at least a little R support.
Obama could have made a fight to enshrine a few things, but without that 60%, its "only" a law and would be easy for the next guy to override.
Something like Roe was law of the land, and hadn't been seriously challenged in 50 years, it wasn't worth the fight that was guaranteed to barely lose.
I mostly agree with what you're saying, but worth pting out that Republicans couldn't have done nearly so much damage if Obama had prioritized pushing thru transformative legislation instead of getting Republican votes to make things bipartisan.
Right. But since Republicans are pushing their agenda the way Obama didn't, it means a lot of the examples of ways Republicans succeeded against Obama wouldn't work now for Dems. But I agree, Dems right now are pathetic and could and should be doing a lot.
Yes!! Obama outdated, milquetoasr approach cost us major achievements. The "being disagreeable" statesmanship bullsh*t was NEVER going to be reciprocated.
Markey-Waxman climate bill was buried. Union card check. Senate Intel torture report. Closing Gitmo. All were on the table and many never even got a hearing because Obama and Senate Dems had to pick a handful of fights. Meanwhile excellent nominees died waiting on a vote.
I was raised Republican until the abject horror of the W years snapped me out of it. The ACA fight proved to me that of all the things Republicans were wrong about they had one thing 100% right. Democrats are wimps and pushovers.
Don’t forget that Tom Cotton is alleged to have almost single-handedly blocked Cassandra Butts as Ambassador to Bahamas because she was a friend of Obama’s. Also blocked for years Brett McGurk (Iraq); Jeffrey DeLaurentis (Cuba); Maria Cardona (El Salvador); George Tsunis (Norway) and several others.
That was always weird to me. Who actually takes time to block ambassadors?! Then I was shown. I am waiting for these thing to again occur to anybody, anytime, any day now!
Part of it may be the view that they're "not Republicans" meaning as long as they don't take a position they have a good chance of being the default, taking a position on things is a risk to that mindset that relies on inertia
I think their positions mostly align with the GOP, because they are all rich; sometimes they baulk on social/cultural issues, but they seem to have given up on that too. They have conservative positions!
Going hand in hand with galvanizing the Tea Party: The GOP declared open legislative warfare on the Dems. They didn't bother pissing about over bipartisanship and just lied about Dems efforts to reach across the aisle.
Remember McCain's bullshit about how Rs were frozen out of ACA negotiations?
John Boehner said this too! All the people of the Klamath River Valley in OR and WA and the tribes came together for a solution to their water/farming/ESA issues and JB blocked that because “he didn’t want Obama to get a win.”
there was the al out assault on all judicial nominees, including the initial nomination of the judge from indiana who had backing from both republican senators. later, the nominees for VACANT dc circuit court seats that McConnell. called “court packing.”
The entire Senate ACA debacle was maddening, but Grassley was obviously playing the Dems and they kept going back for more. He must have moved the goalposts at least a half a dozen times
To be clear, I was responding to the suggestion that there's nothing they can do, and arguing that's not true. I was not arguing that they're doing nothing. That said, my list was pretty hasty, and included some items it shouldn't. And yeah, I can be a bit of a dipshit.
Deny unanimous consent on anything. Literally anything. Put sand in the gears of the Senate. Filibuster...well, anything and everything. And do so publicly with speeches.
Deny unanimous consent. Demand and use every second they have to delay. Draw the process out and let negative press and public protest build. Refuse to act like any of this is normal and help convince people it’s a crisis.
I would consider it a big win if our Dem politicians does the heavy lifting to convince the center this is a crisis. Because the center is carrying on like it's everyday and we need all hands on deck to stop this madness
Actually, if we could get the ones who get kicked off voter rolls just weeks before the election to vote. If we had the ones who have fallen into this apathy that feel hopeless and ask why should I. If we gave people more than words after they have been elected more would vote. And vote Democrat.
Also, they could grow a spine and not be stopped by a couple of pathetic 3rd rate mall cops while trying to enter buildings. (to the fool who's gonna inevitably reply that they are super-soldier mercs and highly trained killing machines: no they're not, stop believing stuff you see in movies)
The Democrat leadership in general need proactively frame their actions as fighting dictatorship. The one promise Trump is keeping is acting like a dictator.
I mean, I agree they should do these things. But Trump doesn't seem to be waiting on getting appointees confirmed. Acting officials have done most of the damage we've seen so far. And DOGE and Musk aren't lawful, anyway. I feel like the most important tasks are about messaging.
They basically high-tailed it last week to take a field trip to Munich for the MSC. They lost a big one ever since the nuclear option and Republicans are going to try and cram everything into reconciliation (which is almost never a good idea, as Democrats learned in 2021-2022).
I just spoke with a staffer for Alex Padilla.
Denying unanimous consent isn't an option for the nominees because the rules have changed since Republicans successfully blocked Obama nominees.
It no longer takes a plurality to confirm nominees, only a simple majority.
UC only works for bills now.👎
Hey @schumer.senate.gov get your head out of your ass and listen to Kevin… if we are to survive as a country — republicans left you a playbook! Use it! Or move aside and let someone with actual balls do this.
I seem to recall Obama's scotus picks blocked by McConnell for phony reasons, and Mitch bragging about it as them being among his greatest achievements.
Yeah, everyone that says Obama had 2 years of a filibuster-proof majority can kiss my fat, hairy Italian ass. Franken was sworn in on 7/7/09. Scott Brown was sworn in as the 41st Republican Senator on 2/4/10. That’s 210 days IF both Kennedy and Byrd were healthy enough to attend.
I could maybe grant benefit of doubt here, if the Dems hadn’t proven themselves in the subsequent decade to be the party of catch and kill. The party need to dissolve. They do more harm than good.
Can confirm Tea Party "protests" started in 2009; I remember watching poor John Larson get buffaloed by a group of astro-turfed juggalos in summer 2009 before I noped out to California.
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https://ballotpedia.org/Chicago_Tea_Party
It was a tiny supermajority window, Al Franken's election was challenged and Ted Kennedy had brain cancer.
In a sane world that would be a clear mandate, but not quite enough without a few R's agreeing.
You can pass bills and make laws at 50%, but to get anything permanent and hard to repeal (like abortion rights) you need 2/3 and Obama was just short of that.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Five_of_the_United_States_Constitution
So when anyone asks "Why didn't Obama..." as the OP did, that's generally the reason, they were a few votes short of doing anything truly sweeping and permanent without at least a little R support.
Something like Roe was law of the land, and hadn't been seriously challenged in 50 years, it wasn't worth the fight that was guaranteed to barely lose.
Remember McCain's bullshit about how Rs were frozen out of ACA negotiations?
https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmkruse.bsky.social/post/3lifz5vom6c2k
They chose not to.
Someone should try using them
Most of this is via EO, no?
Pessimism is a stalling mechanism that clouds your ability to perceive options & poisons the spirits of the people around you.
It's understandable - the threat is primarily existential right now & people are frozen. As the threat grows more material, we need people to fight.
Denying unanimous consent isn't an option for the nominees because the rules have changed since Republicans successfully blocked Obama nominees.
It no longer takes a plurality to confirm nominees, only a simple majority.
UC only works for bills now.👎
@edmarkey.bsky.social
You are 2 of only 8 Senators to have voted against 15 of 16 (Rubio 🙄) cabinet spots. I applaud you.
Now do more, take @kevinmkruse.bsky.social ‘s advice- slow all processes down!!
Mazie Hirono, Tammy Duckworth, @chrismurphyct.bsky.social
@murray.senate.gov, Jack Reed, & @vanhollen.senate.gov are others.
Primary Fetterman, Gallegos, Hassan & Shaheen for capitulating. We’re taking notes…