Man Up

The Morning Joe Rebuttal for February 17, 2010


Observations:


1) Today’s Morning Joe show was overbooked. The raw mechanics of what was on paper versus what came across was critically out of balance in that with all the ads that talked about Tim Kaine being on the show, when he was there, he was half of what the fractious audience needed to explain all the Democratic party dysfunction. It was no payoff to all of the buildup.


We are a mad electorate, and we have now loudly started to call for that man’s resignation. To finally get him on and to have him get away with being a statistical apologist for about 2 minutes and get only one question from Bob Woodward, and regrets from Sam Stein, is to give him sanctuary rather than shine a light on a huge issue.


The one questions from Bob Woodward said so much. “Sir, do you and the President talk?”. Wow.


2) So, yea, tough day for me in all the days travels, but I still got to be part of that glorious moment of Chris Dodd being on the show (on the same day as Tim Kaines), and saying with a straight face that filibuster isn’t the problem, it’s the transportation curve allowing Congress to no longer function like a boarding school that is the ill of the legislative branch. I’m sorry but that is the most excuse driven, cause and effect denial I have ever heard. It is also a golden ticket for Mr. Dodd to move to the next phase of his life, for he clearly displayed how he cannot be the path forward today.


Mr. Dodd might be a nice enough person, and his wife might have a point about the Countrywide scandal being an unfair bookmark on the guy's legacy. But that is really a cheap camouflage and someday someone will explain to his wife that the Countrywide situation is a convenient ‘explain away’ to cover other scandals far more distressing. What is happening here and in Iowa and in South Dakota, and on the other side of the aisle, is that a legion of Duke Cunninghams are choosing to get out or to have the world and the modern informational path congregate around the aggregated deals of their legislative lifetime, and see the rats.


3) But the real show was the Dr. Dean segment, where so much logic and order was placed upon the situation it was both infuriating and hopeful. Look, you had both the current and form DNC chairmen on one show. One guy came on late and all he could do was sound like a statistician anticipating a level of economic disarray, as if to say “here are all the reasons we should expect things to be bad”, but no solutions, and the other guy earlier in the day saying “the solution was right there”.


Today’s problems were solvable in 2009 but our administration was not man enough to accomplish them. And they will be much tougher to solve in 2010 because the odds will be further stacked against progress. If we complained bitterly about the effect of the 58th, 59th, and 60th vote in the Senate and how those three voting Senators were allowed to functionally change over half of the health care bill, can you imagine what our reaction will be if they are the 49th, 50th, and 51st vote? Maddening. If we look at Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman again in a 'pay the piper' way but at the crossroads of reconciliation, when we had it as an unused option and leverage in 2009, we will then cement on our psyche that we did this to ourselves through lack of certain leadership.


But the optimist is where we are on the calendar. Dr. Dean said what we have all said, so it might actually be true. We got the memo in January of 2010, Bill Clinton got the memo on Halloween of 1994. that 10 month gap might be the turnaround opportunity that saves us all. Mr. Obama is a different guy. He is taking hard shots across the bow of not just the Republican party but the dysfunction of Congress.


There is no doubt we are at a second genesis of this Presidency and thankfully so. If it is anything, it’s not too late, not because of the good break of the calendar, but because the Achilles heel of the Republican party is a hallow platform.


That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.