I bring this up because of the news that the Senate has rejected, almost precisely along party lines, a Democrat initiative to begin exploring the morass of corruption and toadyism that is the state of military contracts in Iraq reconstruction.
What surprises me a little, in a bad way, is that this isn't about hiding who stole what from which taxpayer for how long - which would be unpleasant enough - it's about making sure those damn dirty Democrats get that we're not setting no goddamn timetable for getting out of Iraq. And unsurprisingly, the mainstream Dems have responded by rolling over and admitting that they don't really want "out," they just want to make sure that someone is thinking about getting out sometime ever.
Which calls to mind something Ezra Klein posted yesterday about the Democrats' new agenda:
Make Health Care More Affordable: Fix the prescription drug program by putting people ahead of drug companies and HMO's, eliminating wasteful subsidies, negotiating lower drug prices and ensuring the program works for all seniors; invest in stem cell and other medical research.Like most of his commenters, I believe that the agenda is lacking in both substance and aggresive flair, and I just want to make sure everyone notices the lack of anything related to the war. Any war.
Lower Gas Prices and Achieve Energy Independence: Crack down on price gouging; eliminate billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop American alternatives, including biofuels; promote energy efficient technology.
Help Working Families: Raise the minimum wage; repeal tax giveaways that encourage companies to move jobs overseas.
Cut College Costs: Make college tuition deductible from taxes; expand Pell grants and slash student loan costs.
Ensure Dignified Retirement: Prevent the privatization of Social Security; expand savings incentives; and ensure pension fairness.
Require Fiscal Responsibility: Restore the budget discipline of the 1990s that helped eliminate deficits and spur record economic growth.
With an opposition party like this, who needs friends?
What I'll never understand is why on earth the Dems keep scrabbling at a minor minimum wage hike instead of going the route of the CA legislature and just setting the minimum wage to coincide with inflation/deflation. There's no way you can make a rational argument against it (well, maybe you can, but then you have to answer to how far below the poverty line people fall working a full-time minimum-wage job), and it's a political home run. Honestly, the war aside, there are so many great common-sense strides that could be taken across the board, but the Dems seem to consistently take the smallest possible steps. Say what you will about the GOP, but when they screw things up, they screw them up BIG.
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