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I agree with the premise that if the Democrats don't want to blow this opportunity than they won't let the Pelosi wing run wild and surely some of them know this. Whether or not they can or do follow through remains to be seen. There is still a chance they could get the sixty seats. There is a recount looming in Minnesota and I'm reading that if they get to 59, than the results in Georgia will be contested by the Democrats.
In the Democratic Senate, Could Moderation Rule?
http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...856633,00.html
In the Democratic Senate, Could Moderation Rule?
http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...856633,00.html
According to Harry Reid's senior aide, Jim Manley, the Majority Leader knows he has to check any impulse in the Democratic caucus to try to ram through bills without GOP support. For the longer-serving among them, memories of what happened after Bill Clinton's first two years in the White House, when Democrats controlled both houses, are still fresh and painful; then, the pursuit of what the public perceived as an overly liberal agenda led to a GOP blowout in the 1994 midterm elections, ushering in 12 years of Republican control of Congress.
"There is enough institutional memory of what happened [in 1994] to make them want to avoid some of those pitfalls," says Manley. "But I also think some of the younger members are also very cognizant of avoiding that. The Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate understands that the Democrats need to handle our majority the way the Republicans didn't — by working with members of both parties on legislation that improves the lives of working Americans."
The new Senate will be a hospitable place for President Obama to send his nominations for Cabinet posts and the bench to be confirmed. More Democrats overall means that the balance between parties in key committees will shift, creating a cushion and making it less likely that a controversial nomination would be voted down or sent to the full Senate without a positive recommendation.
There will be at least two other new Democratic senators who weren't elected yesterday but who will take the oath of office soon nonetheless; by winning the White House, Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, leave their Senate seats vacant. But both Illinois and Delaware have Democratic governors who get to appoint interim senators — and are certain to pick Democrats.
One uncertainty is Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent who still caucuses with the Democrats but who was one of John McCain's highest profile supporters in the presidential campaign.
Lieberman didn't just support McCain; he spoke at the GOP convention. And Reid is said to believe that Lieberman egregiously distorted Obama's record in his speech. Now that the Democrats have a bigger majority, there's a good chance Reid will strip Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Government Affairs committee — in effect, booting him from the Democratic fold.
"There is enough institutional memory of what happened [in 1994] to make them want to avoid some of those pitfalls," says Manley. "But I also think some of the younger members are also very cognizant of avoiding that. The Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate understands that the Democrats need to handle our majority the way the Republicans didn't — by working with members of both parties on legislation that improves the lives of working Americans."
The new Senate will be a hospitable place for President Obama to send his nominations for Cabinet posts and the bench to be confirmed. More Democrats overall means that the balance between parties in key committees will shift, creating a cushion and making it less likely that a controversial nomination would be voted down or sent to the full Senate without a positive recommendation.
There will be at least two other new Democratic senators who weren't elected yesterday but who will take the oath of office soon nonetheless; by winning the White House, Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, leave their Senate seats vacant. But both Illinois and Delaware have Democratic governors who get to appoint interim senators — and are certain to pick Democrats.
One uncertainty is Joe Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent who still caucuses with the Democrats but who was one of John McCain's highest profile supporters in the presidential campaign.
Lieberman didn't just support McCain; he spoke at the GOP convention. And Reid is said to believe that Lieberman egregiously distorted Obama's record in his speech. Now that the Democrats have a bigger majority, there's a good chance Reid will strip Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Government Affairs committee — in effect, booting him from the Democratic fold.
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